Gold down, at 2-week low

The price of gold slipped and hit a two-week low with the issue of US Federal Reserve data with an ounce of the precious metal hitting a down of USD 1,306, an expert indicated in press remarks here, Sunday. Sabaek Al-Kuwait Executive Director Rajab Hamid said that despite this drop, prices stayed above the USD 1,300 benchmark, picking up in the last hours of trading at the New York exchange with resurfacing of purchase power. Hamid further predicts that gold would regain much of its luster in a matter of days to go above the USD 1,320 per ounce mark due to return of liquidity to the precious metals market and return of demand after last week's profit-taking. On a further note, he added prices of the yellow metal usually go up close to the Diwali season celebrated in India and Eastern Asia countries. Gold had made good gains recently compared to Q2 levels, and the grave challenge facing the US economy, specifically budget crises, raising of debt levels, and continued quantitative easing measures, all stand to push gold prices upwards. The US government decision to pump a monthly USD 85 billion to reinvigorate the floundering economy would reflect positively on the gold market as much of the liquidity would find its way to safe haven investment. Hamid also pointed out that silver accompanied gold on its downward slope starting at around USD 23 per ounce and ending up at USD 21.7 per ounce, dragged down by profit-taking. Most of the action involving silver was of speculative nature for the whole of last week, but it all stayed within a moderate range. Price ranged between USD 23 and USD 21 per ounce over a three month period, which is sufficient to yield double the profit for speculators compared to that they would get from dealing in other metals. As to the local market, Hamid said there was a recovery in demand over the weekend, with 21 and 22 carat the most popular, particularly among Asian buyers marking the Diwali.