Gold futures close lower after weekly gain

Gold market update for August 20. Gold posted its first loss after a nearly 5% gain last week. It was in fact gold and silver’s strongest weekly performance in nearly 5 years. Gold futures (December) slid around $5.30, or 0.4%, to close at around $1365/oz. BullionVault researcher Adrian Ash comments that this is encouraging news for gold’s long-term bulls, but that speculators were still closing their bearish bets and not quite ready to resume buying. The Fed’s long-awaited announcement on its bond purchasing program will provide some direction for gold this week. Many expect the central bank to announce a tapering, which would be bearish for the yellow metal. However, gold may still enjoy safe-haven status due to a variety of unstable situations around the world. Silver could benefit from tightening gold import restrictions and rampant core inflation in India, as well as increasing industrial demand. Read more…