By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Gold prices recovered fractionally on Wednesday after a sharp end-of-quarter selloff by portfolio investors drove it briefly below $1,600 an ounce.
Prices were lifted by a broad risk-off sentiment after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that up to 240,000 Americans could die in the Covid-19 pandemic and warned the public to brace for a painful next three weeks.
That, combined with other news detailing the global spread of the virus and the continued struggles of Europe in particular, helped demand for all haven assets, with the dollar rising across the board and long-dated Treasury yields falling by more than 10 basis points.
By 12:15 PM ET (1615 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex were up 0.2% at $1,600.10 a troy ounce, while spot gold was up 0.7% at $1,588.44.
The rush for havens could have been worse, had the day’s U.S. data lived down to expectations. As it was, ADP’s private payrolls report for March didn’t include developments after March 12, while the ISM’s purchasing managers index for the month also fell by less than expected, to 49.1. Even so, the sub-indices for new orders and employment fell to their lowest since 2009, ING’s chief international economist James Knightley noted.
“The headline index is being artificially boosted by a surge in the supplier delivery times component of the report,” Knightley said. “Normally, when delivery times are longer this reflects demand outstripping supply – a good situation. However today delivery times are extended because of the supply shock relating to Covid-19 with firms struggling to get inputs from China and increasingly from domestic suppliers because of company shutdowns, which is clearly a bad situation.”
The market also continued to digest the implications of Russia’s central bank selling gold after years of being a big net buyer. The CBR’s foreign reserves fell by some $30 billion, or over 5%, in the week to March 20 as it scrambled to prop up the ruble. As those interventions take place in the foreign exchange markets, the bank subsequently sells gold to keep its overall asset allocation stable.
Figures for last week are due to be released on Thursday.
Elsewhere in metals markets on Wednesday, silver futures were flat at $14.15 an ounce, while platinum futures were down 0.8% at $723.49.
Copper futures, which may one day be the herald of a revival in industrial activity, continue to struggle, losing 2.2% to $2.18 a pound.