LONDON—Spot-gold prices fell Thursday, tracking a slump in equities and a weaker euro.
Spot gold was trading at $1,092.60 a troy ounce, down 0.4% from Wednesday's close. Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was at $1,092.50 an ounce.
A stronger U.S. dollar against the euro, comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week that inflation pressures remain subdued and ongoing jitters in the market about sovereign debt in Europe will all weigh on the precious metal and could cause further losses in the coming days, analysts and traders said.
"[Bernanke's] assurances that interest rates would remain low imply ample liquidity will help put a floor under gold prices, we believe, and will keep the opportunity cost of owning gold low," said HSBC analyst James Steel.
However, a drop in the price of gold, in both U.S. dollar and euro terms, indicates underlying weakness for the metal and further short-term losses appear likely, he said.
An auction of seven-year U.S. Treasurys scheduled for later Thursday could buoy the dollar and thus pressure gold, if the auction is well received, he said.
Mr. Bernanke will also give his second day of testimony in the Senate later Thursday and a batch of data is due. Trade will therefore be "choppy," said James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com. Gold is vulnerable to more losses, having failed to tackle key technical chart points last week around $1,127, Mr. Moore said.
The other precious metals were lower, apart from platinum, which is trading in a narrow range between $1,500 to $1,550, following news that South Africa's power utility will raise energy prices by 25%. The country is the world's largest producer of platinum.
Spot platinum was trading at $1,507.50 an ounce, up 0.3%. Spot silver was down 1.2% at $15.77 an ounce. Spot palladium was at $417 an ounce, down 0.6%.
