Most-active gold futures mark lowest settlement since early May
Myra P. Saefong

Wednesday was expiration day for June gold future 

Gold futures tallied back-to-back losses on Wednesday, sending the most-active contract to its lowest finish in more than seven weeks, as prices on the spot market dipped below a key technical level of $2,300 an ounce. 

Prices for the most-active August futures contract, however, only fell to as low as $2,304.70 during the session. 

Fundamentally, there wasn't much behind gold's downward move on Wednesday, said Brien Lundin, editor at Gold Newsletter. It appeared to be a more "technical phenomenon." 

The spot-gold price drop combined with the "typical end-of-month position shifts in the futures" to pull prices lower, Lundin told MarketWatch. The fact that silver prices were up on Wednesday supports this view, he said. 

On its expiration day, the front-month June gold contract (GCM24), lost $17.40, or nearly 0.8% to end at $2,299.20 an ounce on Comex. Gold for August delivery (GC00) (GCQ24), meanwhile, fell $17.60, or 0.8%, to settle at $2,313.20 an ounce, the lowest most-active contract finish since May 3, according to Dow Jones Market Data. 

September silver (SI00) (SIU24), meanwhile, added 6 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $29.26 an ounce. 

"It seems that gold has settled into a typical summertime trading range after a very hectic and impressive spring rally," said Lundin. "In my view, the odds favor a continuation of this trading range for the next month or two," until Federal Reserve rate cuts come into view in the early fall. 

That said, the gold charts show "narrowing volatility," he said. "In a price uptrend, this often presages a price breakout" and that's likely something to watch in the days just ahead. 

-Myra P. Saefong 

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Myra P. Saefong, assistant global markets editor, has covered the commodities sector for MarketWatch for 20 years. She has spent the bulk of her years at the company writing the daily Futures Movers and Metals Stocks columns and has been writing the weekly Commodities Corner column since 2005.

 

 

 

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