Gold slipped on Thursday as the top bullion-backed fund posted its biggest outflow in three weeks and after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it would continue to trim its stimulus measures.
FUNDAMENTALS
Spot gold had fallen $1 to $1,290.40 an ounce by 0024 GMT. Platinum and palladium continued to add to gains on supply fears as strikes in major producer South Africa dragged on for a 17th week.
Fed policymakers last month began to lay groundwork for an eventual retreat from their extraordinarily easy monetary policy with a discussion of the tools they could employ to accomplish the task, with no final decisions taken, minutes from the April policy meeting showed.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 3.3 tons to 776.89 tons on Wednesday – the lowest since December 2008. The outflows are the biggest since April 30.
India’s central bank eased tough gold import rules on
Wednesday by allowing seven more private agencies to ship the precious metal, a move that industry officials say could augment supplies and reduce premiums in the peak wedding season.
Rio Alto Mining Ltd said it would buy Sulliden Gold Corp Ltd in a deal valued at about C$300 million ($275 million), creating a gold miner focused on Peru.