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Gold futures were slightly lower Wednesday, adding to a decline that has brought the commodity to the lowest level since mid April.
The downturn in bullion has come as the U.S. dollar has been edging higher and as U.S. stock indexes have been reaching new records, drawing some buying away from safe havens like gold. The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
and the S&P 500
SPX,
finished at all-time highs on Tuesday.
August gold
GC00,
GCQ21,
was down $5.20, or 0.3%, to reach $1,758.50 an ounce, after futures tumbled 1% on Tuesday on Comex. At the height of Tuesday’s selling, bullion was on track for the worst monthly decline since 2013.
That June slump has come as the U.S. dollar has been perkier, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
a gauge of the currency against a half-dozen currencies. The dollar is up 2.3% and looking at its best month since March, when it gained 2.6%.
A stronger dollar can make dollar-pegged precious metals more expensive to overseas buyers.
“Gold remains on the back foot during early Wednesday trading, with the precious metal likely to have its worst month of the last few years,” wrote Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, in a Wednesday note.
“These losses clearly correlate with the strengthening of the dollar, with the markets pricing in the Federal Reserve’s shift to a more hawking stance,” the analyst wrote.
September silver
SIU21,
SI00,
which is now the most-active contract, was up 7 cents, or 0.3%, to around $25.970 an ounce, following a 1.3% decline on Tuesday.
Silver was on track for a monthly drop of 7.6%, its biggest since a nearly 18% drop in September of 2020.
