Investing.com -- Gold prices fell on Friday and bond yields rose slightly as reports of a possible ceasefire in Yemen allowed a little risk appetite to return to markets that had been unsettled earlier this week by poor global economic data and the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
By 10:45 AM ET (1445 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange had fallen back below $1,500 a troy ounce, trading at $1,498.65, a loss of 1.1% for the day and on course for their lowest close since early August.
Spot gold was down 0.9% at $1,491.70.
Offering their usual mirror image, government bond yields rose, as money flowed out of haven instruments. The 30-Year U.S. Treasury rose as high as 2.17%, before retreating to 2.15%, while the two-year yield was steady at 1.66%.
That followed some relatively upbeat economic data showing U.S. durable goods orders and consumer sentiment both running ahead of expectations in August.
It was a different story in Europe, where U.K. government bond yields fell to near record lows again after Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders warned that the U.K. economy might need lower interest rates even if it avoids a hard Brexit. The 10-year Gilt yield yield fell to as low as 0.47% before recovering to 0.50%. It’s still below the Bank’s 0.75% refinancing rate, however.
Low yields make gold, which offers no nominal return, relatively more attractive.
Later Friday, the CFTC will update on the speculative positioning on gold against amid increasing awareness that it’s been portfolio buyers, rather than central banks, who have been supporting the market in recent weeks. Speculative net long positions rose again last week and remain well above long-term averages, close to a three-year high.
Elsewhere, silver prices also stumbled, losing 2.2% to $17.52 a troy ounce, while platinum futures were effectively unchanged at $936.35 a troy ounce.
Copper futures, a rough proxy for industrial demand, rose 1.1% to $2.60 a pound.