Gold and silver exchange traded funds capped the week with a two-day bounce as the rally in the U.S. dollar slowed and precious metals gained some momentum.
After trading lower the first three days of the week, gold ETFs were on track to post a weekly gain.
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) were up 1% in Friday’s premarket.
Gold is trying to regain $1,600 an ounce after seeing its largest one-day gain since late January on Thursday.
Some are wondering if gold is losing its safe-haven status. During the latest Europe debt scare, investors have been favoring U.S. Treasuries and the dollar, while precious metals have lost ground.
However, the two-day rally suggests gold has declined enough to make it attractive to some investors. [Are Gold ETFs a Safe Haven Again?]
“We got to the point where the year-to-date performance was zero, and from a risk perspective people started to recognize that this was somewhere with lower risk compared to other asset classes,” LGT Capital Management analyst Bayram Dincer said in a Reuters report.
“Yesterday, gold defied a stronger dollar, weaker equities, and another raft of negative EU headlines (to rise). It felt like the gold market of yesteryears,” added UBS in the story. “To see a return of gold reacting positively to macro stresses is indeed refreshing, but it is still far too early to make any firm conclusions from here that gold has indeed turned the corner. Momentum will be key, and follow-through buying will have to kick in to encourage investors to jump in.”
Edward Meir, INTL FCStone strategist, in a MarketWatch report said many commodity complexes are “severely oversold, and nowhere is this more evident than in silver.”
SPDR Gold Shares
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own GLD and SLV.