Gold drops on Draghi comments

Gold traded in a narrow range throughout the day and hit a session low as the dollar pushed against the euro following Mario Draghis announcement on the future direction of ECBs monetary policy.

Gold futures for August delivery traded at $1 248.15 per troy ounce at 14:41 GMT, below its opening price of $1 252.65. The precious metal ranged between days high at $1 257.15 and $1 244.45 per ounce, which was hit minutes after Draghis statement.

The European Central Bank held its benchmark interest rate at the record low 0.50% in July, meeting expectations. Mario Draghi commented later on the topic that ECBs monetary policy will “remain accommodative as long as needed” and added that interest rates will stay low for an “extended period of time”.

This weighed strongly on the Euro, pushing it below the $1.2900 mark to a five-week low. The dollar indexs September futures, which tracks the greenbacks performance against six major counterparts, rose more than 0.8% on the day. The U.S. currency gauge traded at 84.05 at 14:22 GMT, up 0.78% on the day. The index ranged between days high at 84.15 that was hit shortly after Draghis statement and low of 83.35, slightly below opening price.

The dollar tends to trade inversely to dollar-priced commodities. A strengthening of the U.S. currency reduces raw materials appeal as an alternative investment and makes them more expensive for foreign currency holders. Gold has largely been moving according to shifting expectations over Quantitative Easings earlier-than-expected deceleration. Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, announced after the latest FOMC meeting that the central bank won’t scale down its monetary easing program just yet, but that is highly possible to happen within the end of the year, if the needed stable recovery signs are provided. According to Bernanke, Fed’s moves are tied to what happens in the economy and the central bank has no fixed plan, but sentiment points at reducing bond purchases. Bernanke said that if the economy continues to improve in line with Fed’s projections, it would be “appropriate to moderate the monthly pace of purchases later this year”, and end the program as the unemployment rate drops to 7%, which Fed expects to happen around mid-2014.

Yesterdays controversial data from the U.S. pushed the dollar down, supporting gold. The precious metal also drew support amid political turmoil in Egypt and financial problems in peripheral Euro zone countries.

Investors are now looking ahead into Friday’s key Unemployment Rate and Change in Non-Farm Payrolls indicators, which will provide further information on the pace the U.S. economy is recovering at. Preliminary estimates suggest a 0.1% fall in the Unemployment Rate, 7.5% down from 7.6%. Change in Non-Farm Payrolls are expected to stand at 165 000, down from 175 000 in May. If the positive news are confirmed, Fed’s view to taper the bond purchasing program will be reinforced, thus pushing gold prices down.

Elsewhere on the precious metals market, silver fell on the day, trading at $19.515 an ounce at 14:37 GMT, below opening price at $19.758. Platinum October futures stood at $1 342.00 per troy ounce at 14:39 GMT, $4 below opening price. The metal ranged between days high and low at $1 362.50 and $1 338.45 respectively. Meanwhile, palladium for September delivery traded at $679.40 an ounce, below opening price at $685. Prices held in range between daily high and low at $688.30 and $675.20 respectively.