RIYADH: Gold prices slipped on Friday, in its longest losing run since November last year, as the bullion’s appeal waned with a stronger dollar and more US interest rate hikes on the horizon.
Spot gold dropped 0.66 percent to $1,747.06 per ounce, while US gold futures settled down 0.47 percent at $1,762.90.
Wheat rises
Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures bounced on technical buying on Friday after nearing a six-month low struck a day earlier, though the market remained capped by sluggish US exports and increased Black Sea shipments, analysts said.
Corn futures also strengthened, while soybeans edged lower as forecasts for rain in the US Midwest tempered concerns about unfavorable dryness, traders said. Next week, traders will monitor reports from an annual tour in which scouts take crop measurements in hundreds of corn and soybean fields across key US farm states.
The most-active CBOT wheat contract settled up 22 cents, or 2.9 percent, at $7.71 a bushel. Corn ended 7-1/2 cents, or 1.2 percent, higher at $6.23-1/4 a bushel.
Soybeans eased 1-1/4 cents, or 0.09 percent, to close at $14.04 a bushel.
UN chief says Russian food and fertilizer must get to market
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday that governments and the private sector should cooperate to bring Russian food and fertilizers as well as Ukrainian grain to world markets under a deal agreed last month.
“The other part of this package deal is the unimpeded access to the global markets of Russian food and fertilizer, which are not subject to sanctions,” Guterres told a news conference in Istanbul. “It is important that all governments and the private sector cooperate to bring them to market.
“Getting more food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia is crucial to further calm commodity markets and lower prices for consumers.”
(With input from Reuters)
