Gold drops on Draghi comments
Gold fell this afternoon after president of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi dashed hopes of euro zone bond purchases by the bank.
His statements came after the ECB slashed its interest rate by 25 basis points to one percent and said it would provide long term loans for up to three years to banks and relax its requirements for loan collaterals.
Traders are now looking to Friday's EU summit, which is expected to result in an agreement to make changes to the EU treaty to tighten fiscal discipline within the euro zone.
It has been speculated that if such an agreement is reached, the ECB would launch a large scale bond buying programme to stabilise borrowing costs within the euro zone. However, Draghi said at a press conference today that the ECB has no such plans.
Draghi's comments hit the euro, while boosting the US dollar, an alternative asset to gold.
Gold traded at US$1,715/oz, down US$27 from Wednesday's close. Silver slipped 74 to US$31.77/oz and platinum dropped US$25 to US$1,498/oz.
Today's top risers in the sector were:
KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI), up 9 percent at 3.22 pence at midday
Oxus Gold (LON:OXS), up 6.5 percent at 0.88 pence
Alecto Minerals (LON:ALO), up 5 percent at 1.97 pence
Solomon Gold (LON:SOLG), up 5 percent at 11.53 pence
Serabi Gold (LON:SRB), up 4 percent at 8.98 pence
The top fallers were:
GMA Resources (LON:GMA), down 14.5 percent at 0.15 pence at midday
African Consolidated Resources (LON:AFCR), down 10 percent at 2.25 pence
Central Rand Gold (LON:CRND), down 8 percent at 0.4 pence
Greatland Gold (LON:GGP), down 7.5 percent at 0.9 pence
Minco (LON:MIO), down 6 percent at 2.82 pence
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