21 December, 2016

 We had a mixed day in the precious metals markets on Tuesday, as gold resumed its decline, falling by about $9/ounce on the session. However, silver and platinum both bucked the trend and finished higher, while palladium continued to retreat, with prices now at five-week lows. Gold was weakened by the fact that the dollar was again quite strong, particularly against the yen, which was knocked back by dovish remarks put out by the BOJ central bank governor who affirmed the bank’s twin targets on interest rates and said that he saw no problem with the yen’s recent decline against the greenback. Sterling also struggled, getting to a one-month low of $1.2313 at one point on account of the Scottish premier saying she was now willing to push for independence in order to maintain access to Europe’s single market. A second option she was considering proposes a single market membership carve-out for Scotland from a UK outside the EU.