Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Gold is headed for its worst two-day drop in history as pandemic panic grips global financial markets.
Gold for delivery in April come close to crashing through the $1,500 level on the Comex market in New York on Friday, down $86 an ounce, or 5.4% from yesterday’s closing price of $1,590.30 an ounce. By the close on Friday, gold pared some of those losses, closing at $1,520.
Contracts representing 52 million ounces of gold had exchanged hands by the close after a week of heavy selling. Gold is down more than $172 an ounce from its opening levels on Monday, a day the metal also hit a seven-year high of $1,704.30 an ounce.
Friday’s rout also wiped out gold’s 2020 gains from record-breaking ETF buying. Global gold-backed ETFs had $4.9 billion or 84.5 tonnes of net inflows in February, boosting holdings to new all-time highs of 3,033 tonnes.
Friday could top the biggest intra-day drop in the price since April 15, 2013 when gold succumbed to a shock and awe short-selling strategy. Gold ended that day more than $87 below the previous closing – and never recovered on its way to $1,050 an ounce three years later.
Gold hit a record $1,909 an ounce intra-day on 23 August 2011, but the next day suffered one of its few triple-digit one-day losses when it plummeted $105, ending the week down more than 10% from the all-time high.
Adjusted for inflation, gold’s highest price point ever was on January 21, 1980 when the precious metal hit $850, only to plunge the very next day to $737.50, a 13% fall.
The biggest fall in percentage terms came in February 1983, when the yellow metal fell from $475 to $408.50 over two days, a 14% decline.
Comments
Littlemaster
Nice analysis. Keep it up the good work