UNITED STATES May 22 2015 10:45 AM
NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States gold scrap prices bounced back from recent decline on Thursday, while gold futures prices at New York Mercantile Exchange settled lower as investors parsed the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s April meeting released a day earlier, digging for further clues of the timing of an interest-rate hike.
The major gold scrap commodities on the Scrap Register Price Index advanced on Thursday. The 9ct hallmarked gold scrap prices gained to $440.319 an ounce and 14ct hallmarked gold scrap prices up to $686.898 an ounce. The 18ct hallmarked gold scrap and 22ct hallmarked gold scrap prices also traded higher at $880.639 ounce and $1075.553 an ounce respectively.
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As per Scrap Register Price Index, the 9ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices also rose to $416.488 an ounce and 14ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices up at $649.721 an ounce on Thursday. The 18ct non-hallmarked gold scrap and 22ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices are also traded up to $832.975 an ounce and $1017.341 an ounce respectively.
However, the most active June gold contract on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down $4.70 an ounce at $1,204 an ounce on Thursday.
Gold futures prices were under pressure after failing to get any lift from Wednesday's dovish Fed minutes. U.S. policy makers appeared reluctant to raise interest rates in June due to concerns over the pace of economic recovery, the minute showed.
Incoming data since that meeting on April 29-30 will have only generated further anxiety, as retail sales were unexpectedly flat last month.
In some disappointing economic news from the U.S., a Labor Department report on Thursday showed a bigger than expected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended May 16, although the four-week moving average of claims fell to a new fifteen-year low.
The NARs' report showed an unexpected decrease in existing home sales in the U.S. in April, with lagging supply relative to demand putting upward pressure on home prices.
