Gold Falls for Third Day, Silver and Platinum Plunge – 1/22/2010

New York gold futures on Friday fell for the third straight day. Cited factors for the yellow metal’s 1.2% fall were continued concerns over China’s move to curb lending and President Obama’s proposal to limit bank risk-taking. In other metals, silver and platinum were hit hard with respective daily losses of 3.3% and 3.0%. Additional New York bullion figures follow:

• Gold for February delivery declined $13.50 to end at $1,089.70 an ounce. It ranged from $1,098.90 to $1,081.90.

• Silver for March delivery plummeted 57.8 cents to finish at $16.932 an ounce. It ranged from $17.520 to $16.880.

• April platinum plunged $47.60 to close at $1,544.50 an ounce. It ranged from $1,594.00 to $1,521.10.

In PM London bullion prices, the benchmark gold price was fixed earlier to $1,084.00 an ounce, which was down $24.25 from Thursday. Silver dropped 40 cents to $17.280 an ounce. Platinum was settled at $1,540.00 an ounce for a hefty $72.00 loss.

"With fear returning to markets and investors’ minds after they had previously bought into the recovery story, most assets have been sold off sharply, including gold, helped by interest-rate-hike fears," Martin Hennecke, associate director at Tyche Group Ltd. in Hong Kong, said on MarketWatch.

"The latest selling is most likely a temporary correction, but there is still too much uncertainty to say when and where the market drop will stop," he said on Reuters, adding that for gold, the near-term support target was December’s low around $1,070."

New York crude-oil for March delivery fell $1.54, or 2%, to $74.54 a barrel. Gold, considered a hedge during times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, tends to follow oil and move opposite to the U.S. dollar. A rising greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities, like bullion, more expensive for holders of other world currencies.

In related bullion silver news, the United States Mint sold 2.4+ million 2010 Silver Eagles in two days. The 2010-dated bullion coins were released on Tuesday, July 19. In less than 48 hours the US Mint sold over 8.6% of the total number of Silver Eagles sold during all of last year.