Comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinting at a possible draw down of the Fed’s economic stimulus efforts in coming months sent gold lower in Wednesday trading. In testimony before Congress, Bernanke said the Fed would continue bond-buying for the time being, but could reduce that activity if the economy showed continued improvement.
Gold futures for June delivery sank 0.7% to $1,367.40 per ounce on Wednesday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,413.30 and as low as $1,353.10. Gold bullion closed in London at $1,364, according to BullionVault.
Silver futures for June delivery edged up 0.1% to $22.46 per ounce. Wednesday’s high for silver was $23.18 while the low was $22.22.
Gold and silver funds declined in Wednesday trading.
- The SPDR Gold Trust () fell 0.7%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () sank 0.8%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () edged down 0.5%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs improved during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF () gained 1.2%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () climbed 1.7%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () rose 0.5%.
Gold mining shares mostly advanced on Wednesday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () added 2.2%.
- Barrick Gold () inched up 0.6%.
- Eldorado Gold () climbed 3%.
- Goldcorp () rose 2%.
- Kinross Gold () surged 3.8%.
- Newmont Mining () was flat.
- NovaGold Resources () was also unchanged.
- Yamana Gold () increased 0.9%.
Silver mining shares mostly gained during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () slid 1.1%.
- Hecla Mining () improved 0.3%.
- Pan American Silver () gained 0.8%.
- Silver Wheaton () climbed 2.4%.
- Silver Standard Resources () also rose 2.4%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
