* European Central Bank policy meeting due on Thursday * More platinum deficits loom after record 2020 undersupply – WPIC * Platinum prices likely to reach $1,300/oz over 12 months – UBS (Updates prices) By Shreyansi Singh March 10 (Reuters) – Gold eased on Wednesday after registering its biggest jump in two months in the last session, as higher U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger dollar remained a stumbling block for bullion. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,711.21 per ounce by 1207 GMT after rising more than 2% on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,709.20. U.S. yields regained momentum on Wednesday, raising the opportunity cost of holding bullion, while the dollar also gained. “Gold prices are likely to remain under pressure, while concerns about inflation are front of mind for the market,” said CMC Markets UK’s chief market analyst, Michael Hewson, adding a stronger dollar could be a further drag on bullion prices over the next few days.
Category: Market News
Gold Price Analysis: XAU/USD attempts to stabilize ahead of the $1670 June low – Commerzbank
Gold is attempting to stabilize at the 2019-2021 uptrend at $1667 but the yellow metal needs to do more work to negate the downside pressure, Karen Jones, Team Head FICC Technical Analysis Research at Commerzbank, reports.
See – Gold Price Analysis: XAU/USD to near the confluence support zone at $1,660-$1,670 – DBS Bank
Key quotes
“The market has sold off towards the $1670 June low and the $1667 2019-2021 uptrend. This is currently holding the downside.”
“Initial resistance is offered by the $1760/$1772 band, which is the May high and previous 50% retracement and the short-term downtrend in order to alleviate downside pressure and signal recovery to the 200-day ma at $1861.”
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Silver Price Analysis: XAG/USD bears can ignore latest bounce to 100-day SMA
- Silver struggles to keep week-start gap-up but snaps three-day losing streak.
- Bearish MACD, downbeat RSI joins sustained break of yearly support line, now resistance, to favor silver sellers.
- Yearly low, 200-day SMA will be a tough nut to crack for bears.
Silver prices waver around $25.40, fading the initial run-up to $25.56, during Monday’s Asian session. In doing so, the white metal confronts 100-day SMA while also keeping the last week’s break of an ascending trend line from March 2020.
Given the bearish MACD and descending RSI line join the previous week’s downside break of the key support line and 100-day SMA, silver prices are likely to remain depressed.
However, fresh selling can wait until the bears conquer January 27 low near $24.70 as it triggered the commodity’s bounce during Friday.
Also acting as the strong downside barrier is a confluence of 200-day SMA and the yearly low near $24.20.
Meanwhile, a daily closing beyond the 100-day SMA level of $25.45 will need to cross the previous support line, at $25.80 now, to recall the silver buyers.
Following that, lows marked during late February around $26.20 should test the bulls targeting the monthly top beyond $27.00.
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Gold Price Outlook Remains Mired by Broader Recovery in US Yields
GOLD TALKING POINTS
The price of gold attempts to retrace the decline from the beginning of March as the US 10-Year Treasury yield pulls back from a fresh yearly high (1.62%), but key market themes may keep the precious mental under pressure as the Federal Reserve appears to be in no rush to alter the path for monetary policy.
FUNDAMENTAL FORECAST FOR GOLD: BEARISH
The price of gold bounces back from a fresh weekly low ($1688) as the initial reaction to the 379K rise in US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) dissipates, and the recent weakness in longer-dated Treasury yields may lead to a larger rebound in the precious metal even as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintains a dovish forward guidance.
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Silver Price Analysis: XAG/USD set to refresh yearly low, $25.00 tests the bears
Silver prices remain heavy near late January lows, currently down 0.23% around $25.30, during Friday’s Asian session. The white metal dropped the fresh bottom in multiple days after breaking an ascending trend line from November 30 the previous day.
The bearish bias also gains support from the metal’s failure to recover from recent lows while staying below 100-day SMA amid bearish MACD.
Hence, silver sellers are en route 200-day SMA level of $24.15. Though, 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of November 2020 to February 2021 upside, at $25.00, offers immediate support to the quote.
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Silver falls to fresh five-week low as precious metals stay pressured
Silver down over 1% to the lows of $25.63 on the day
he drag in gold is also inadvertently having a negative pull on the likes of silver and platinum lately and we are seeing more of that today as well with silver having fallen to its lowest levels since 28 January below $26.
The drop pushes silver towards a test of key trendline support @ $25.65 and also brings into focus the 100-day moving average (red line) @ $25.43.
Those will be key lines in the sand for silver buyers to hang on to in order to keep the upside momentum running, after having seen year-to-date gains erased this week after having jumped to $30 at the start of February.
The dollar’s resilience so far today is also part of the story but precious metals haven’t really been getting much love – especially gold – as of late.
Silver ETFs may not have declined as drastically as gold but they have eased off since peaking in early February amid the surge in demand and retail trading frenzy at the time.
UPDATE 2-Platinum, palladium and rhodium in short supply –Johnson Matthey
LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Platinum, palladium and rhodium
used by the auto industry to filter emissions from engine
exhausts were all in short supply last year, data from
specialist materials firm Johnson Matthey showed on
Wednesday, as prices for the metals soared.
Supply shortfalls have driven rapid price gains, with
platinum trading at six-year highs and rhodium RHOD-LON
and palladium close to record levels.
A shortfall is expected for palladium and rhodium this year
as well, the third consecutive annual deficit for rhodium and
the tenth for palladium, Johnson Matthey researcher Rupen
Raithatha said.
Platinum may see a third consecutive annual deficit in 2021,
depending on how much metal is stockpiled by investors, he said.
All three metals are used in catalytic converters to reduce
harmful emissions, and tightening environmental regulation is
forcing auto makers to put more into each vehicle. Platinum is
also in demand by other industies, for jewellery and as an
investment.
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New applications for platinum as a catalyst – a use discovered over two centuries ago – are still being discovered
In the early decades of the nineteenth century scientist Sir Humphry Davy stumbled upon the phenomenon of heterogeneous catalytic oxidation when working on the development of the first-ever miner’s safety lamp. By inserting a platinum wire near the ignited wick of the lamp, Davy found it would catalyse the continued oxidation of coal gas.
This important discovery was the precursor to the use of platinum as an industrial catalyst in a process that has been around for over one hundred years – and which remains vital today; the production of nitric acid.
Nitric acid is a major feedstock for fertiliser and during its manufacturing process, oxidation of ammonia gas with air occurs to form nitric oxide. In order to achieve a high conversion efficiency, this is carried out at pressure over a platinum-rhodium catalyst.
Today, new applications for platinum catalysts continue to be found. Tanaka, the leading Japanese precious metals business, has recently won a Technology Award from the Catalyst Manufacturers Association, Japan, in recognition of its involvement in the development of a ‘hydrophobic’ platinum-based catalyst that prevents moisture build-up and enables a catalytic reaction to be maintained, even at ambient temperatures.
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Gold Slides to 9-month Low as Rising Bond Yields, Dollar Dim Appeal
Gold slid as much as 2% to its lowest in nearly nine months on Wednesday as elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger dollar hammered the metal’s appeal.
Spot gold was down 1.2% at $1,718.09 per ounce by 11:56 a.m. ET (1656 GMT), after falling to its lowest since June 2020 at $1,701.40 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures lost 0.9% to $1,718.80.
”As real rates continue to rise, that’s challenging gold. The rates markets are also adding pressure on valuations for all asset classes, and as a result, gold is a casualty,” said TD Securities commodity strategist Daniel Ghali.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields crept back towards a one-year peak reached last week, while the dollar rose.
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Silver Consumption in Global Automotive Sector to Approach 90 Million Ounces By 2025; Should Challenge Silver Usage in Photovoltaic Industry
With modern cars using more silver than ever in their
advanced technology components, the worldwide
automotive sector could need nearly 90 million ounces
(Moz) annually of the metal by 2025, according to a
recently-published report by the Silver Institute.
In four years, silver consumption in the automotive
sector should rival that of the photovoltaic industry,
forecast to reach 98 Moz in 2025, and currently the
largest application of global industrial silver demand,
according to the report Silver’s Growing Role in the
Automotive Industry, produced on behalf of the Silver
Institute by Metals Focus, an independent precious metals
consultancy.
The report, part of the Silver Institute’s series of Market
Trend Reports, examines trends in automotive production,
including the growth and evolution of hybrid and battery
electric vehicles. It also addresses transportation policies
that favor vehicle electrification in some of the world’s
most important vehicle markets.