Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

New York— Gold futures finished lower Wednesday, losing early gains as traders took a cautious approach ahead of more economic reports from China following strong February imports data. Gold for April delivery ended down $1.70, or 0.2%, at $1,122.30 an ounce at the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose as high as $1,128.30 an ounce in morning trade. Analysts at Action Economics said that both oil and gold prices turned lower on expectations that Chinese data due out Thursday on retail sales, production and fixed investment will disappoint.

"However, our China economist warns that the data could be very much distorted by the Lunar New Year holidays," they wrote in a note. Gold and other metals advanced earlier on after a report that showed China's trade surplus narrowed further in February to $7.6 billion from $14.2 billion in January due to soaring imports, reflecting growing domestic consumption. "It is not what China says, it is what they do that reflected in higher crude imports and continued platinum catalyst use," said George Gero, metals analyst at RBC Capital, in emailed comments. See full story.