Investing.com - Copper prices fell sharply Friday after the HSBC China flash January PMI showed the manufacturing sector still in contraction though there was a slight trend improvement over last month's final.
The HSBC January initial estimate came in at 49.8, compared to December's final of 49.6, but the January flash output index ticked up to 50.1 from 49.9 in December, placing it just in expansion territory above 50.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange copper for March delivery fell 0.98% to trade at $2.565 a pound Friday after the HSBC survey. China is the world's top copper importer.
Earlier gold prices seesawed between gains and losses after the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, a key U.S. ally on diplomacy and oil policies that raised questions about whether the succession plan that would keep the bonds tight and in the wake of the European Central Bank's quantitative easing. After the HSBC data, also on the Comex, gold futures for February delivery eased 0.05% at $1,300.10 a troy ounce in Asia.
Gold turned higher on Thursday, after the European Central Bank unveiled a government bond-buying program at the conclusion of its highly-anticipated policy meeting.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery fell 0.07% at $18.348 a troy ounce on Friday. On Wednesday, silver rallied to $18.50 an ounce, the highest level since Sept. 19, before ending at $18.19, up 23.7 cents, or 1.32%.
The ECB announced that it would launch a €60 billion monthly bond buying program that would start in March and last until September 2016, in a bid to stave off the threat of deflation in the euro area and boost growth.
In total, the program could total €1.08 trillion, much higher than market expectations for a figure of around €500 billion.
The decision came after the ECB held its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.05%. The central bank also kept its marginal lending at 0.30% and left its deposit facility rate unchanged at -0.20%.
The QE announcement pressured the euro and sent the dollar higher. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.65% to hit a 12-year high of 93.62.
Also Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits decreased by 10,000 to 307,000 last week from the previous week’s total of 317,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to decline by 17,000 to 300,000 last week.