Precious metals prices down, base metals advance

Precious metals prices were down on Monday, with gold’s decline to a four-week low affecting other precious metals prices, while base metals prices managed an advance on the day.

Gold was down early, rose at mid-day, but ultimately dropped to $542.10/$543.00 per troy ounce in London late trading. The drop was blamed on investors decreasing their exposure to gold as the dollar rose. Gold prices have fallen over 5 percent since hitting a 25-year high of $574.60 earlier in February. However, the decline in gold prices has spurred jewelry makers, especially in Asia, to take advantages of lower prices to replenish their stocks, making the physical gold market stronger.

In response to the drop in gold prices, platinum was trading at $1,013/$1,018 per troy ounce, down from Friday’s late quote of $1,035/$1,039 in New York. Silver was down as well, by 20 cents to $0.14/$9.17 per troy ounce.

Base metals, however, were up for the day. Copper gained $31 to $4,869 per tonne, while aluminium was up $18 to $2,458 per tonne.