New York Gold, platinum continue decline in face of strong dollar

New York (Platts)--24Jul2006

Gold and platinum futures have continued their respective downward paths
on the New York exchanges Monday morning, as the dollar remains firm against
other major currencies. Both metals have suffered heavy losses after weak
openings due to selling pressure in the overseas markets.

The nearby August gold futures contract fell $12.90 to $607.30/oz on the
COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:18 EDT (14:18 GMT),
after opening at $614/oz and failed in its attempt to move upward. After
reaching $615.50/oz, selling pressure ensued, sending the gold price tumbling
to a low of $605.50/oz.

"I think it's mostly profit-taking," said a trader. "It held up on Friday
because people did not want to go short into the weekend, given what's
happening in the Middle East. It just seems to be it's more related to
political tension than to the dollar," the trader added.

The dollar is trading at Yen116.71 and $1.2458/euro, pretty much
unchanged from last Friday's levels.

Silver has been holding up pretty well, with the September contract
gaining 4.5 cents to reach $10.89/oz at 10:26 EDT.

On the NYMEX, the nearby October platinum contract has been even more
volatile than gold, bouncing up and down in a $21.80 range since the opening,
hitting a low of $1,191.20/oz. At 10:26 EDT, platinum was trading at
$1,205/oz, down $15.50.

September palladium is down $1.80, trading at $310/oz, moving in tandem
with platinum.

--Ovid Abrams; ovid_abrams@platts.com

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