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Gold futures extended a recent slide on Friday that brought bullion to a three-month low and its sharpest weekly fall since President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, amid a week long rotation by investors out of assets perceived as safe and into those they could offer richer returns.
Gains for the U.S. dollar, as questions swirled about a rollback in import tariffs as a part of a partial China-U.S. trade agreement, also helped weigh on bullion prices, putting pressure on assets denominated in the currency.
December gold GCZ19, -0.29% on Comex fell $4, or 0.3%, to $1,462.40 an ounce, after declining 1.8% on Thursday to at its lowest level for a most-active contract since Aug. 2, according to FactSet data. December silver SIZ19, -0.79% shed lost 14 cents, or 0.8%, adding to its 3.3% tumble from a day ago.
For the week, gold was set to give up 3.3%, while silver was on pace for a 6.5% skid for the period. Those losses would put gold on pace for its steepest weekly skid since 2016, while it would mark silver’s sharpest such fall since July of 2017.
White House Advisor Peter Navarro said that U.S. hadn’t yet agreed to roll back tariffs, amid reports that there were disagreements within the Trump administration whether to remove existing import levies.
On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said both sides had accepted that if a phase one trade deal came to pass, the U.S. and China would reduce tariffs simultaneously and proportionately.
“If gold and silver fall today, in USA session then chances of $1448 and 1660 will be very high,” wrote Chintan Karnani, chief market analyst at Insignia Consultants in New Delhi.
“Today’s close and Monday’s close is very crucial for gold and silver from a short term technical perspective. I expect to see some outflows from gold ETF’s if they fall today and Monday,” he said.
The iShares Silver Trust SLV, -2.85% were on track to shed 5.4% for the week, which would represent the exchange-traded fund’s sharpest weekly drop since July 7, 2017, according to FactSet data. Meanwhile, the SPDR Gold Shares GLD, -1.55% were set to notch a 3.01% loss, which would be its worst such decline since May 5, 2017.
