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Futures for gold and silver on Friday were headed lower and were poised to register the biggest weekly slide since late September, as the metals prices have been buffeted by upbeat news on coronavirus vaccines that have driven investors to equities and away from the perceived haven of bullion.
Metals markets will close an hour earlier than usual on Friday, after the U.S. markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
“The breakdown of the support level of $1,850 has damaged the medium-term trend for gold, opening space for further correction,” wrote Carlo Alberto De Casa, chief analyst at ActivTrades in a Friday research note.
“With US markets working shorter hours today due to the Thanksgiving long weekend, there are good chances of seeing a relatively quiet trading session with the bullion price moving laterally in the range of the last few days between $1,800 and $1,810,” the analyst wrote before the morning’s slide in prices.
On Friday, December gold GCZ20, -1.81% shed $24.20, or 1.4%, to trade at $1,787 an ounce, after rising 0.1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, February gold GCG21, -1.82%, the most active contract, was trading $22.80, or 1.3%, lower at $1,788.40 an ounce.
Gold trading on Friday puts it well beneath its 200-day moving average at $1,802.11, an area that technical analysts have viewed as support for the asset. A settlement at its current price would also mark gold’s lowest since early July.
Silver for December delivery SIZ20, -4.33%, meanwhile, was trading 85 cents, or 3.6%, lower to trade at $22.59 an ounce, following a 0.3% gain in the previous session. March silver SIH21, -4.41%, the new most-active contract, was off 84 cents, or 3.7%, to trade at $22.585 an ounce.
For the week thus far, gold futures have lost over 4%, which would mark its steepest weekly skid since the period ended Sept. 25, based on the most-active contracts.
Silver has lost nearly 7%, so far, FactSet data show, and futures for the metal have produced three consecutive weekly declines, which would market the longest string of weekly losses since the three-week span ended May 1.
Gold’s decline has come despite weakness in the U.S. dollar, which commodities are priced in, and a retreat in government bond yields.
The U.S. dollar was off 0.1% on Friday and has dropped to around a three-year low at 91.93, as gauged by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.08%. The 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 0.861% fell 1.9 basis points to 0.859%. Bond prices rise as yields fall.
