Hedge funds slash bullish wagers on gold over Trump election win
The precious metal has fallen about 8% from a record high on Oct. 31, with losses accelerating after Trump’s election victory last week.
While industrial metals investors were offloading the sector’s big names on Wednesday after sharp drops in iron ore and copper prices over worries about the robustness of the Chinese economy and heightened tensions surrounding North Korea, gold was enjoying one of its best trading sessions of the year.
Safe haven buying saw gold bulls chase the metal higher throughout the day and comments by Trump in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the US dollar “is getting too strong” only added fuel to the fire late afternoon.
On the Comex market in New York gold for delivery was last trading at $1,289 an ounce, the highest since November 10 and up 2.6% so far this week.
Reaction from top gold stocks were fairly muted with Barrick Gold adding half a percentage point on Wednesday bringing the top gold producer’s year to date gains to 26.5%.
Number two in terms of output, Newmont Mining ended the day slightly lower, before finding fresh buyers after hours, while Vancouver-based Goldcorp added 1.1% in New York.
