Gold
Gold bars are seen at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant 'Oegussa' in Vienna, Austria, March 18, 2016. Reuters/Leonhard Foeger

Gold futures declined on Wednesday, marking a slump for the seventh consecutive session. With this, the metal finished at its lowest recording since the start of February.

Gold for April delivery on Comex plunged by 0.6 percent, or US$6.7 (AU$8.9) to settle at US$1,209.4 (AU$1609.5) an ounce. According to FactSet, this is the lowest finish for gold since Feb. 1. May silver also fell by 1.4 percent, or 23.8 US cents, to reach US$17.29 (AU$23.02) an ounce.

Several gold miners sustained a heavy blow, reporting negative readings for 2017. On the other hand, others reported declines of as much as 20 percent over the past month.

On Monday, Newcrest Mining was trading down in New York, providing a market cap of US$12.3 billion (AU$16.37 billion). With production amounting to almost 2.5 million ounces last year, it had the lowest cost mining operation internationally. In Western Australia, Cadia Valley can dig out gold for less than US$300 (AU$399.2) an ounce all-in.

Centerra Gold finished as the lowest cost producer. The company mines gold at US$586 (AU$779.8) an ounce. Evolution Mining digs out gold at US$674 (AU$896.9) an ounce. Barrick Gold, reputed as the most valuable producer of gold in the world, produces at US$732 (AU$974.1) an ounce. The company’s costs witnessed a downslide last year, dropping by 12 percent in contrast to 2015.

The European Central Bank meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday and the official U.S. nonfarm payroll jobs report will be released on Friday. “At this point, gold could see a bump up if nonfarm payroll misses, but buyers should remain cautious until after the Fed meeting next week,” Bill Baruch, chief market strategist at iiTRADER, referring to the ADP data, said.

Wednesday also saw a reduction in crude oil prices – which, according to senior analyst Jim Wyckoff, can also be attributed to the decline in gold. “Given that crude oil prices are arguably the leader of the raw commodity sector, Wednesday’s bearish downside breakout is also a big negative for the raw commodity sector, including the precious metals,” he said.

Among other metals, April platinum suffered a drop of 1.2 percent, or US$11.6 (AU$15.4), to reach US$949.5 (AU$1263.6) an ounce. June palladium fell by 0.6 percent, US$4.6 (AU$6.12), to settle at US$770.40 (AU$1025.2) an ounce. May copper declined by 0.7 percent, or 1.8 US cents, to US$2.60 (AU$3.46) a pound.

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