Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures fell more than $50 an ounce Thursday as investors dumped the metal and other commodities and ignored a trade group�s report showing greater third-quarter demand for the metal. Gold futures for December delivery dropped $54.10, or 3.1%, to end at $1,720.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was gold�s lowest close since Nov. 1. The metal traded as low as $1,711 as a combination of pessimism and low volumes engulfed commodities and as gold traded in lockstep with falling oil and U.S. stocks. Silver and copper sold off by 6.9% and 2.9%, respectively. �Risk is off the table and gold has had a nice run,� said James Cordier, portfolio manager at Optionsellers.com in Florida.

Gold also battled low volumes as traders still reeled from the bankruptcy of MF Global Inc., the large commodities broker-dealer firm that went under two weeks ago. With many MF Global accounts in limbo, volumes have remained �ultra now,� Cordier said. �In that environment, a sneeze is pneumonia,� he said. Gold has caught very little in the way of safe-haven flows from the euro zone�s debt problems in recent sessions. On Thursday, debt sold by Spain and France met with rising yields, reigniting fears about the euro bloc. Markets seem to �have grown numb to the constant back and forth of European problems,� said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at Telvent DTN. See full story.