The prices of precious metals changed direction again and this time they have declined during the past few days of the week. The recent news of the rise in the imposed tax on gold imports in India may have contributed to the recent drop in the price of gold. Moreover, the positive news of the growth in the U.S economy including the rise in the manufacturing PMI in January, and the drop in the number of jobless claims may have also pulled down the prices of precious metals. The decision of the BOC to leave the rate unchanged and lower the expected GDP growth rate in 2013 may have pulled down not only the Canadian dollar but also precious metals. Finally, the Euro/USD rose last week by 1.1%; the Canadian dollar and Yen depreciated against the USD. The depreciation of these currencies may have pulled down precious metals prices.
By the end of the week, gold declined by 1.8%; silver, by 2.32%.
Here is a short recap of the developments in precious metals prices between January 21st and January 25th:
Precious Metals Recap:
Gold price fell during last week by 1.8%; moreover, during said week, the average rate reached $1,678.68 /t. oz which is 0.25% below the previous week’s average rate of $1,682.86 /t. oz. Gold ended the week at $1,656 /t. oz.
Silver, even more than gold, declined during the previous week by 2.32%; conversely, the average rate increased by 1% to reach $31.88/t oz compared to last week’s average $31.56/t oz.
During last week, the average daily percent changes of gold reached -0.36%; silver had an average daily changed of -0.46%.
The chart below shows the developments of precious metals, as their prices are normalized to 100 as of January 18th. Bullion prices have had downward trend during the last few days of the week.
The second chart presents the daily percent changes of precious metals (or in other words the changes around the trend). Silver and gold had declined during most of the previous week. During last week, precious metals rates daily percent changes ranged between nearly 0.8% gain and a 2.2% loss.
For further reading:
- Is the Big Gold Rally Behind Us?
- Why Isn’t Gold Pulling Up?
- Gold and Silver Outlook for January
- Gold and Silver Yearly Outlook For 2013