Gold Slides On Firm Equities, Ahead Of ECOFIN Meeting

Gold prices steadied near the lowest levels since late February on Friday’s trading session. Strong equity market gains chased investors toward riskier assets, seeking better returns at gold`s expense.

Gold fell 0.30 percent, or 4.72 points to trade at 1,561.33

Among other precious metals:

Silver inched down 0.66% to trade at around 27.62

Platinum lost 0.31% to 1,528.75

Palladium came lower by 0.94 % to 727.00

The shiny metal fell victim to some of the profit taking during the Wall Street’s previous session, with the Dow and the S&P 500 hitting fresh all-time highs on positive jobs market data.

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 managed to close at another all-time high for the second day running on Thursday. The Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits fell far more than expected last week, dropping to the lower average for this year.

As of (09:57 GMT+3), the dollar index hovered around 82.24 after opening at 82.26; USDIX hit a high of 82.26 and a low of 82.12

Investors across the region are waiting for the start of a two-day meeting of Europe`s finance ministers in Ireland to finalize a bailout for Cyprus, amid news that the country needs much more money than first thought.

Recent news that Cyprus was going to sell a large part of its gold holdings pressured bullion prices. European Commission reports indicate Cyprus plans to sell 400 million euro worth of reserve to finance its bailout.

The sale plan, set out in a draft assessment of Cypriot financing needs prepared by the EC, would be the first major gold disposal by a euro area central bank since France sold 17.4 tons of gold in the first half of 2009.

The Central Bank of Cyprus denied the news, while a government official said Cyprus will proceed with its gold-selling plan.

As of (09:58 GMT+3) the euro traded at $1.3098 after opening at $1.3097. The EUR/USD pair set an intraday high of $1.3125 and low of $1.3091.