Precious metals markets experienced a broad sell-off at the opening of trading today, with prices for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium all declining.
Key Factors Behind the Decline
The current downturn extends the selling pressure initiated during Friday's night session, which was triggered by unexpectedly strong U.S. non-farm payrolls data. Overall market sentiment remains weak.
Stronger-than-expected jobs figures have heightened market concerns. The U.S. May non-farm payrolls report released on Friday showed an addition of 172,000 jobs, significantly surpassing market forecasts. This robust data fueled worries that the Federal Reserve might delay interest rate cuts, propelling the U.S. dollar index sharply higher and directly pressuring dollar-denominated precious metals. It is worth noting, however, that the job gains were heavily concentrated in a few sectors like leisure and hospitality. This concentration in specific industries does not necessarily indicate a broad-based economic improvement and may be difficult to sustain.
Market capital continues to flow out. Last Friday, U.S. stocks, particularly the semiconductor sector, saw a significant correction due to concerns over AI demand prospects, leading to a passive tightening of liquidity across markets. During this process, precious metals failed to act as a safe haven and were instead sold off alongside risk assets. Holdings in major global precious metal ETFs continue to decline, and COMEX gold and silver positions have also retreated to low levels. Although central bank purchases (e.g., the People's Bank of China bought nearly 10 tonnes in May) provide long-term support, they have been insufficient to counter the concentrated selling pressure from short-term speculative positions.
Platinum and palladium fundamentals remain weak. Due to the rapid price decline, end-users are adopting a "buy on rallies, not on dips" mentality, making it difficult to expect concentrated demand from physical buyers to support prices. The forward curve in the London market also indicates a marginal increase in supply pressure for platinum and palladium in the near term.
Market Technical Analysis
Shanghai Gold (Au2608): Gold has been in a weak consolidation phase for nearly a month and a half, and the current downtrend persists, with a new gap down formed today. The price is approaching the low point of the previous correction, showing some signs of resistance at this level. Key support below can be referenced near the March 23rd closing price of 945.5, while resistance above is near the June 5th low of 968.8.
Shanghai Silver (Ag2608): Silver's decline is more pronounced than gold's, with the market showing clearer signs of falling on increased volume and open interest. After oscillating near the zero line for an extended period, the MACD indicator has begun to diverge downwards, and moving averages have shifted into a bearish alignment. Although there was some intraday buying support during the decline, no clear signs of a bottom have emerged on shorter timeframes. Support below can be watched near the key 15,000 level, with resistance above referenced near the April 30th low of 17,550.
Platinum (Pt2608) & Palladium (Pd2608): During the recent decline, the platinum chart has shown several unfilled gaps, with the price gradually approaching its initial listing lows. Technically, the MACD continues to operate below the zero line and has formed a bearish crossover signal, indicating that downward momentum remains dominant. Short-term support below should focus on the lower edge of the initial trading range formed after listing, roughly around the December 9, 2025, closing price of 435.85.
In contrast, palladium prices have already fallen below their historical lows since listing, continuously setting new record lows. Concurrently, both market open interest and trading volume are contracting, indicating relatively poor liquidity. Investors should be mindful of the risks. Until the price effectively reclaims the key 300 level, the technical picture is likely to remain weak.
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