Gold prices, on Thursday, December 31, seem to be heading to achieve the best annual performance since 2010, even at a time when the yellow metal is under pressure due to the weak prospects of providing greater financial aid in order to stimulate the US economy and the recovery of stocks in light of thin trading.
Spot gold fell 0.3% to $ 1886.94 an ounce but is up by more than 24% this year.
US gold futures fell 0.1% to $ 1891.70.
Sentiment was negatively affected, as the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell, rejected a swift vote on a bill to raise the value of a subsidy for Americans to mitigate the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, saying that he “has no realistic way to quickly pass it in the Senate.”
Asian stocks are heading to close the year at record highs and investors are pinning their hopes on a rapid economic recovery next year, which led to the dollar’s decline.
And gold, which is considered a hedge against inflation this year, benefited from unprecedented stimulus measures and lower interest rates to cushion the impact of the blow to economies from the pandemic.
As for other precious metals, silver fell 0.9% to $ 26.36 an ounce, but it rose by more than 47% since the beginning of this year, which is its best performance since 2010.
Platinum fell 0.4% to 1061.38 dollars an ounce, but it is up 10.2% in 2020. Palladium fell 0.1% to 2361.22 dollars an ounce, but it is on the path of achieving gains for the fifth year in a row, up 21.9%.