Gold Drops as Fed May Start Taper, ETP Holdings Seen Dropping

Bloomberg (16/12) -- Gold fell amid speculation that Federal Reserve policy makers may decide to start cutting back asset purchases this week, and as a survey showed that holdings in exchange-traded products will contract further next year.

Bullion for immediate delivery lost as much as 0.5 percent to $1,233.10 an ounce and was at $1,234.20 at 2:29 p.m. in Singapore. Gold for February delivery was little changed at $1,233.50 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold fell 26 percent this year as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value and the Fed signaled it may curb the $85 billion of monthly bond purchases. The Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, begins a two-day meeting tomorrow. A total of 311 metric tons will be withdrawn from bullion-backed exchange-traded products next year, according to the median of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Holdings in the 14 biggest ETPs fell 31 percent to 1,813.7 tons since the start of January, the first annual decrease since the funds started trading in 2003, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest gold-backed ETP, declined 39 percent this year to 827.6 tons, the lowest level since January 2009, according to data on the fund’s website. The Fed will probably start cutting the monthly bond purchases at this week’s meeting, according to 34 percent of economists surveyed on Dec. 6 by Bloomberg. Officials said at their Oct. 29-30 meeting that they may reduce the purchases “in coming months” as the economy improves. Silver for immediate delivery lost as much as 0.8 percent to $19.5444 an ounce, and was at $19.5707. Platinum dropped 0.2 percent to $1,362.33 an ounce, while palladium advanced 0.2 percent to $717.96 an ounce.