US Scrap Gold prices drop; Gold Futures settle lower

UNITED STATES December 23 2016 4:22 PM

NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States gold scrap prices dropped on Wednesday, while gold futures prices at New York Mercantile Exchange settled lower, ending two-days of solid gains for the yellow metal, as U.S. stocks lured investors ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The major gold scrap commodities on the Scrap Register Price Index continued to trade down on Tuesday. The 9ct hallmarked gold scrap prices declined to $390.995 an ounce and 14ct hallmarked gold scrap prices dropped to $609.952 an ounce. The 18ct hallmarked gold scrap and 22ct hallmarked gold scrap prices also traded down at $781.99 ounce and $955.07 an ounce respectively.

According to Scrap Register Price Index, the 9ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices also dropped to $369.833 an ounce and 14ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices down to $576.939 an ounce on Tuesday. The 18ct non-hallmarked gold scrap and 22ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices are also traded lower at $739.666 an ounce and $903.378 an ounce respectively.

However, the most active February gold contract on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down by $6.50 an ounce to $1,074.10 an ounce on Wednesday, after showing sharp gains totaling more than $30 in the previous two sessions. 

The metal is up 2.5 percent from last week's trough, which was near the lowest level since early 2010, reached after the Federal Reserve announced its first rate rise in nearly a decade, raising uncertainty over the pace of further increases. Bullion failed to get a lift from a softer dollar, weak U.S. housing data and a modest rebound in oil prices.