Daily Gold Update

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold slid 0.8% to close the regular trading session below $1,086 as continued speculation about rising interest rates boosted the dollar. However, the metal abruptly erased those losses and more, jumping $14 to $1,099 in electronic trade after hours as soft data on housing and manufacturing eroded the dollar and boosted demand for alternative assets.

New home sales fell nearly 7% in June to the slowest pace in seven months, according to the Commerce Department, with falloffs occurring in every region except the Northeast. The surprising drop throws a wrinkle into expectations about the housing sector just days after the National Association of Realtors said resales of homes reached an eight-year high last month.

In addition, Markit's flash reading of factory PMI rose slightly in June, but forward indicators forecast "a relatively slow growth phase" for U.S. manufacturing in coming months.

The dollar fell back on the softer data while Treasury bonds rose with gold after hours. Sharply lower U.S. equities also helped the metal recover from earlier losses as investors sought safe havens.

Excluding today's after-hours rally, gold finished regular trading down 4.1% this week, swamped by a 3% drop on Monday as the result of Chinese sellers dumping 33 tonnes in a matter of minutes on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, choking liquidity and triggering automatic stop-losses in New York.

Silver fell 1.5% today and 2.3% this week in regular trade before rebounding nearly 30 cents after hours today. Platinum dipped slightly on the day and lost 2.1% this week before rebounding by more than $9 today in electronic trade. Outlier palladium gained 0.8% in the regular session for a 0.6% weekly gain, then added another $3 after hours today.

At the Comex close: August gold fell $8.60 to $1,085.50; September silver lost 21 cents to $14.49; October platinum dipped 40 cents to $980.70; and September palladium gained $4.75 to $622.60 an ounce.