Gold losses 1.6% in the week, silver at a 2-year low

Gold pared its losses on Friday after falling below $1,800 during the session, closing the week in the negative. Silver closed at its lowest level since July 2020.

Today’s losses for gold came after a 2% plunge for June, with the metals continuing their downward trend and analysts expecting the precious metal to continue to slide.

Gold found support from buyers in a dive below the $1,800 level over the past six months, but “this time, buyers may be slow to help,” noted FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich.

As he said, “markets are seeing an economic recession” as “central banks accelerate monetary policy tightening, putting pressure on long-term inflation expectations.”

“In such an environment,” he continued, “demand for gold as a safe-haven against inflation will decline in the coming weeks.”

In another gloomy sign for the economy, copper fell below $8,000 a tonne, hitting its lowest level since early 2021, as heightened fears of a global economic slowdown roil industrial metals markets.

The metal – widely seen as a barometer of the global economy – fell as much as 3.5% to $7,970.50 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, extending losses after its worst quarter since the outbreak of the pandemic. Investors appear increasingly convinced that growth is set to weaken amid tighter monetary policy and an energy crisis centered in Europe.

“There are growing concerns about global demand,” Wei Lai, an analyst at TF Futures Co., told Bloomberg from Shanghai. The copper market will face a surplus of around 10% of total supply over the next two years based on a “hard landing” scenario for the US and European economies, with the weak recovery in China unable to compensate for the decline in global demand , he added.

Silver – as a combination of precious and industrial metal – also fell more than gold, with the price ratio of the two metals reaching its highest level in two years.

In this climate, Mr gold U.S. crude for August delivery fell $5.80, or 0.3%, on Friday to settle at $1,801.50 an ounce, its lowest level since February, and slipped 1.6% for the week, according to with Dow Jones Market Data. Intraday, the precious metal fell to $1,783.40, its lowest price since January.

The silver U.S. crude for September delivery lost 68 cents, or 3.4%, to $19.667 an ounce, falling to a 2-year low. On the week, it fell 6.9%.

As for the rest of the metals, platinum for October delivery fell 2.7% to $871.30 an ounce, while on the week it lost 3.6%.

THE copper for September delivery lost 11 cents, or 2.9%, to $3.604 a pound, its lowest price since February 2021. On the week, it plunged 3.7%.

The September delivery contract for the palladium it was rescued from negative signs after gaining $22, or about 1.2%, to $1,938.10 an ounce, extending weekly gains by 4.5%.