The gold market is ready to complete in November the strongest fall in 2.5 years because of the likelihood of US interest rates hike in December.
On Monday, gold was traded at $ 1054.95 per ounce compared to US $ 1057.23 at the close of trading on Friday, while US futures for December delivery fell $ 1.50 to $ 1.054.70 an ounce. Since early November, the spot price fell 7.5 %, which has not happened since June of 2013.
Investors’ interest in gold, which does not produce income, decreased amid expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates at the meeting on 15-16 December. The stocks of the world's largest gold ETF-secured fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell on Friday to their lowest since September 2008.
Reduction in prices also contributes to the growth of the dollar index against a basket of six major currencies, which on Monday rose to a maximum of eight months. The Friday US employment report will affect the Fed's decision on interest rates.
Silver prices since early November fell 10 %, palladium by 20 %, and platinum by 16 %.
Today, silver was traded at $ 14.03 per ounce compared to $ 14.05 at the closing of trading on Friday, platinum was $ 827.16 compared to $ 831 and palladium $ 544.72 versus $ 548.
Copper for March delivery increased by 0.8 cents, or 0.41%, to close Friday's trading at a price of $ 2.057 per pound. On Thursday, the red metal soared by as much as 4% after regulators said that they can investigate short selling metal on the local market. Despite the rise on Friday, during the whole week copper prices lost 0.2 cents, or 0.19%, as the possibility of raising interest rates in the United States strengthen the dollar, and also the slowdown in the world economy, in particular in China, are putting pressure on industrial metal.