Gold Prices Falls Below $1,100/oz – 12/21/2009

US gold futures declined on Monday and notably retreated below $1,100 an ounce for the first time in more than six weeks. Pressuring prices lower was a rising US dollar. Bullion tends to move in the opposite direction of the greenback. Gold fell 1.4%, silver lost 1.6% and platinum declined 0.4%. More New York precious metal figures follow:

• Gold for February delivery closed down $15.50 to $1,096.00 an ounce. The yellow metal ranged from $1,120.80 to $1,090.80.

• Silver for March delivery fell 28.5 cents to close at $17.035 an ounce. It ranged from $17.525 to $16.980.

• January platinum retreated $5.80 to end at $1,423.50 an ounce. It ranged from $1,438.40 to $1,419.30.

In PM London bullion prices, the benchmark gold price was fixed earlier in the day to $1,105.50 an ounce, which was an increase of $1.00 from Friday. Silver retreated 4 cents to $17.270 an ounce. Platinum was settled at $1,429.00 an ounce, rising $12.00.

Notable bullion quotes follow:

"Investors may see gold sliding to $1,000," Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank, said on MarketWatch. "The probable year-end gold price will be around US$1,050."

"The dollar is rallying now, and that’s taken the wind out of gold’s sails," Matt Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago, said on Bloomberg.

"Perhaps tomorrow’s GDP data might shed a bit of additional light on matters," wrote Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc. "If however, the GDP figures are weak, the dollar could be subject to a bit more profit-taking following its recent spectacular resurrection."

For a silver coin news item of the day, read about the US Mint’s release of the 2010 BSA Silver Dollar Commemorative Designs.