Gold leaped higher on Friday, April but was likely to return to five-week lows after the prospect for a iiKorean denuclearisation deal eroded bullion’s safe haven appeal.
The leaders of South and North Korea embraced after pledging on Friday to work for the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1318 per ounce at 1015 GMT, not far from a low of $1,315.06 an ounce hit in the previous session, its weakest since March 21.
Spot gold was on track to fall more than 1 percent this week, its second consecutive weekly decline and the biggest weekly drop in four.
U.S. gold futures also added 0.1 percent to $1,318.90 per ounce.ii
“We have the pictures from the meeting of the two Korean leaders today, showing geopolitical hotspots have calmed down massively, so there’s scant argument to be bullish on gold at the moment,” said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Adding to the pressure on gold, the dollar was firmer, bond yields are higher and spot gold slipped below its 100-day moving average, he said.
“That’s a very negative sign for technical oriented investors … I expect gold to briefly dip below $1,300, but physical buying will kick to support the price.” i
“The strength of the U.S. dollar – combined with the weakness of the eurozone currency, after (ECB chief) Mario Draghi’s speech – is pushing down the yellow metal,” said.
Silver was up 0.3 percent to $16.52 per ounce. For the week, the metal is down over 3 percent so far, its biggest weekly decline since the week ending Feb. 2.
Platinum added 0.4 percent to $909.20 per ounce, after touching $900.50, the weakest since Dec. 18, Reuters reports.
Palladium eased 0.2 percent to $982.20 an ounce and has fallen more than 4 percent so far this week, after two weeks of gains.
