PRECIOUS-Gold falls more than 1 pct as commodities dip

Gold market update for Wednesday, May 1. In midweek trading, gold pared around 2% in its biggest one-day declinbe since the 13+-percent rout in mid-April. Comments from the Fed announcing that it will continue its stimulus program(s) helped soften the blow toward the end of the trading day, but gold was still down around 1%. The U.S. central bank announced it would continue its monthly $85 billion bond-buying program aimed at supporting the housing and mortgage markets. Unprecedented physical demand for gold continues to support the market, but has waned somewhat. Trading volume is still below its 30-day moving average. Despite record demand for physical bullion, gold/silver ETFs continued to see an exodus, which exposed a further divide between physical and paper markets. Read more…