US MIDDAY: gold falls

Gold fell around 1 percent on Friday to record its second straight weekly loss, dragged down by fund selling amid commodity weakness and as safe-haven buying faded after Greece's approval of an austerity package. Bullion came under pressure as Wall Street rallied after a surprising jump in US manufacturing data eased concerns about a tepid economic recovery. Slipping crude oil and grain prices also diminished gold's appeal as an inflation hedge.
"Gold clearly is not getting a lift from the global economic picture or from the sovereign debt front, and commodities as an asset class is not attracting the same level of fund buying like they were a month or two months ago," said Bill O'Neill, of commodities investment firm LOGIC Advisors.
The metal has shed 5 percent in the past seven sessions, partly due to technical selling as gold dived below $1,500 an ounce and fell toward its 100-day moving average. Spot gold fell as low as $1,478.01 an ounce, its weakest since May 17, and was down 0.9 percent at $1,486.51 by 2:50 pm EDT (1850 GMT). US gold futures for August delivery settled down $20.20 at $1,482.60, after trading between $1,478.01 and $1,502.19.
Gold fell 1 percent for the week. Silver was down 2.5 percent at $33.77 an ounce. Holdings of the world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust, fell 1.4 million ounces or 0.5 percent on Thursday, the fund's website showed. The trust saw its biggest quarterly outflow since its launch in the three months to end June, data on its website showed, as investors turned their backs on silver amid fears the metal's rally to record highs had been overdone.
The Greek parliament's acceptance this week of a package of austerity measures needed to obtain further funding from the European Union and International Monetary Fund has tempered some risk aversion in the market, curbing demand for gold. "Without a Greek default or something similar, it is difficult to think of a catalyst that would send gold to new record highs," said Robin Bhar, an analyst at Credit Agricole.
Platinum group metals have outperformed gold this week, with platinum rising 2 percent and palladium up 4 percent, as a risk-on trade benefited industrial metals more than gold. Spot platinum was down 0.4 percent at $1,713.49 an ounce, while spot palladium was up 0.3 percent at $754.60 an ounce.