NY precious metals slide early, gold testing lows
NEW YORK, June 27 (Reuter) - COMEX and NYMEX precious metals futures were mostly lower early Friday, with gold again testing the four year lows seen in January this year in the bullion market.
``The dollar was a bit higher overnight and Hong Kong gold ended lower on long liquidation, ahead of the holiday weekend before the handover to China, so we got some general selling this morning, but volume was not especially heavy,'' one COMEX floor trader said.
The Hong Kong gold market is closed until Wednesday next week due to the historic handover of the colony from Britain to China on Monday June 30.
COMEX August gold saw a new life-of-contract low at $337.60 shortly after the open, and was down $1.60 at $338.10 an ounce after the first half hour of trade.
In the bullion market, spot gold was quoted $336.30/$337.80, compared to the London Friday morning fix at $337.30 an ounce, and the New York close Thursday around $338.50/00.
Gold saw a four year low at the London fix at $336.90 on February 12 this year.
COMEX September silver, now the active contract with more open interest, was down 1.5 cents at $4.775 an ounce, but remains in its $4.70-4.90 range of the past two months.
NYMEX October platinum, now the active contract, was up 50 cents at $407.50 an ounce, while NYMEX September palladium was down $3.40 an ounce at $178.00.
Russian officials said earlier this month that Russian exports of PGMs, suspended for six months, would resume in late June, but traders now expect deliveries to arrive in early July.
The acute shortage of metals in the physical market is keeping lease rates abnormally high, though short term rates have eased slightly this week, refining sources said.
One month platinum lease rates were seen around 55 pct Friday morning, while one month palladium lease rates were seen around 85 pct.
However, refiner Engelhard Corp sent out a letter to its customers recently advising it would strictly enforce its pool account policy, meaning the refiner would not be able to lend metal to customers for refining, sources said. |
