Gold rises; China data slams copper

San Francisco (Mar 10)   Gold futures swung to a gain Monday after starting off lower, while copper futures got slammed in the wake of weaker-than-expected China data.

Gold for April delivery   rose $5, or 0.3%, to $1,343.20 an ounce Monday, while May silver /quotes/zigman/10480467/realtime SIK4 -0.21%  fell 1 cent to $20.91 an ounce.

Copper was stealing the show, however, with May futures dropping 3 cents, or 1.1%, to $3.05 a pound, with the selloff attributed to data released over the weekend that showed Chinese exports unexpectedly fell 18.1% in February from a year earlier.

“The selloff in copper is the clearest sign that traders are concerned about Chinese growth this year, with the February trade balance being only the latest in a list of poor data releases. The manufacturing PMIs have been no better for months so we shouldn’t be hugely surprised,” said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari UK, in a note. “This poor figure is also going to have been exaggerated by last year’s export numbers, which were heavily distorted by capital inflows being disguised as exports.”

Gold futures ended Friday with their biggest one-day point and percentage loss in more than a week due to the better-than-expected jobs report. The U.S. added 175,000 jobs in February, topping the 140,000 positions expected by economists polled by MarketWatch.

“Extreme weather, drought, the Ukrainian crisis and cheap valuation have propelled the precious metals and the other commodities prices higher,” a Sharps-Pixley analyst said in explaining the allure of gold so far in 2014. “Gold’s safe-haven status has been reinforced, while the fabrication demand for gold has continued to be strong in the East.”

Elsewhere in metals trading Monday, April platinum   lost $2.10, or 0.1%, to $1,481.50 an ounce, while June palladium  gave up $4.85, or 0.6%, to $776.95 an ounce.

Source: MarketWatch