With investors focused on any clues about when the Federal Reserve will start tapering its monthly bond-buying, gold settled slightly lower on Wednesday prior to the release of the minutes from July’s Federal Open ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½s Committee meeting.
The minutes revealed broad support among committee members for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s plan to begin scaling back stimulus efforts later this year, but did not suggest a specific timetable for the tapering. Equities markets declined.
Gold futures for December delivery fell 0.2% to $1,370.10 per ounce on Wednesday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,373.80 and as low as $1,359.20. Gold bullion closed in London at $1,370, according to BullionVault.
Silver futures for December delivery moved down 0.5% to $23 per ounce. Wednesday’s high for silver was $23.20, while the low was $22.81.
Gold and silver funds fell slightly in Wednesday trading.
- The SPDR Gold Trust () dipped 0.3%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () also slid 0.3%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () moved down 0.2%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs retreated during the day.
- The ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Vectors Gold Miners ETF () tumbled 4.6%.
- The ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () dropped 2.9%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () declined 3%.
Gold mining shares slumped on Wednesday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () fell 4.2%.
- Barrick Gold () slid 3.5%.
- Eldorado Gold () declined 4%.
- Goldcorp () dropped 4.7%.
- Kinross Gold () tumbled 6.1%.
- Newmont Mining () moved down 3%.
- NovaGold Resources () sank 2.8%.
- Yamana Gold () retreated 3.3%.
Silver mining shares pulled back during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () dropped 4.1%.
- Hecla Mining () slipped 3.2%.
- Pan American Silver () sank 3.8%.
- Silver Wheaton () declined 3.1%.
- Silver Standard Resources () moved down 3.8%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
