AGE Daily Gold Update

AGE Daily Gold Update presents a recap on today's action in the precious metals markets. View archives.

3/18/2019: Gold near-flat as stocks rise

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — Gold was nearly flat, edging down 0.1% to close under $1,302, as rising risk appetite offset a slightly softer dollar and rising oil prices.

The dollar inched down less than 0.1% against major rivals as traders largely treaded water ahead of this week's Fed meeting on monetary policy. The UK pound weakened after a third vote on PM Theresa May's Brexit plan was blocked in Parliament, while the euro rose behind a 1.5-billion-euro trade surplus in January.

US equities rose on expectations that the Fed will keep monetary policy unchanged and reiterate its dovish wait-and-see posture toward future rate hikes. The end of rising rates can lift corporate profits by holding down borrowing costs for capital investment. The Dow gained for a fourth session and both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit 52-week highs, pulling investors away from alternative assets.

Gold's slide was backstopped after West Texas crude oil rose 0.5% to just under $59 per barrel, a four-month high, after OPEC announced it would defer action on production cuts until June. Rising oil supports gold as a hedge against energy-related inflation.

The other precious metals were mixed, with silver dipping less than a cent while platinum and palladium, more tightly tied to industry, rose 0.3% and 1.4%, respectively.

At the Comex close: April gold slid $1.40 to $1,301.50; May silver dipped less than a penny to $15.32; April platinum added $2.20, to $834; and June palladium gained $21.20 to $1,538.70 an ounce.