Gold held onto healthy gains on Wednesday in late trade, though off earlier one-month highs, as investors sought its safety after weaker US manufacturing data and a private-sector jobs report for May. Spot gold was trading at $1,538.40 an ounce at 3:55 pm EDT (1955 GMT) after earlier hitting $1,550.14, its highest since May 3.
Benchmark August COMEX futures rose $6.40 to finished at $1,543.20 after earlier reaching its highest since May 2 at $1,551.60 an ounce. Gold fell by about 2 percent in May, although the price remained on track for a near 8 percent gain this year, fuelled in large part by investor nerves over eurozone finances.
Spot silver was sharply lower at $36.76 an ounce than $38.44 at Tuesday's close. US July silver futures fell 4 percent to $36.77 in after-hours trade. Silver dropped over 20 percent in the month of May. US platinum and palladium futures were also down following declines reported for most major US automakers. In late dealings, benchmark platinum futures lost $12.70 to $1,821.30 per ounce and palladium futures tumbled $6.45 to $772.50 per ounce. Spot palladium slipped to $769.47 an ounce from $774.10 an ounce on Tuesday, and platinum slid to $1,815.24 compared with $1,828.10 the day before.