Gold moves lower on stronger dollar

The price of gold continued Wednesday to be driven by the fortunes of the US dollar, with gold dropping on the session as the dollar strengthened.

December gold was $4.90 lower to $1,030.50 per troy ounce in New York trade, while December silver fell 29 cents to $16.25 per troy ounce, January platinum was $12.10 lower to $1,306.90 per troy ounce and, in afternoon trade, December palladium dropped 4 percent to $3.17 per troy ounce.

The dollar’s strength also hurt copper prices, as did continuing higher inventories and new data on US home sales, as a new report showed that new home sales in the US dropped by 3.6 percent in September.

December copper was down 7 cents to $2.93 per pound in New York, while three-month copper fell $155 to $6,430 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange as LME-monitored inventories added another 1,075 tonnes during the session to 371,725 tonnes, their highest in five months.

Among other base metals, lead fell $39.50 to $2,270.50 per tonne in London, while aluminium was down $73 to $1,912 per tonne, zinc was $123 lower to $2,190 per tonne, tin fell $650 to $14,650 per tonne and nickel dropped $850 to $17,800 per tonne.