Metals Price Watch: Gold Price Holds Gains near One-Week High

**Gold and silver**

iNVEZZ.com, Wednesday, July 10: The gold price today held positions near the one-week high of $1,260.01 an ounce reached on Tuesday. Bullion was trading at $1,257.72 an ounce as of 15:39 GMT.
Traders eagerly awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech later today for clues on whether the US central bank will taper stimulus soon. The Fed will release minutes of its June policy meeting at 18:00 GMT and Bernanke is due to speak later on.

Last month Bernanke gave the clearest indication so far that the Fed plans to curb debt purchases, possibly as early as September, which triggered a sharp decline in the gold price.

The silver price also remained stable today and was found at $19.31 per ounce as of 15:58 GMT.
**Base metals**
!m[Weak Dollar Boosts Copper Price ](/uploads/story/3863/thumbs/pic1_inline.jpg)

Weakness in the US dollar provided support for the copper price today on the London Metal Exchange, lifting the quote to $6,785 per metric ton from $6,730 at the close on Tuesday. Copper initially dropped after data showed China’s exports fell 3.1 percent in June year on year, the first decline since January 2012, while imports dropped 0.7 percent. But later the weak Chinese trade data sparked talk that the

People’s Bank of China (PBoC) might ease its monetary policy to stimulate growth, which would lift demand for the industrial metal.
All the other base metals also advanced today on the London Metal Exchange. The tin price was trading at $19,700 per metric ton compared with $19,305 yesterday; the aluminium price was at $1,804.50, up from $1,790; the zinc price rose to $1,882 from $1,869; the nickel price was at $13,560, up from $13,325 and the lead price gained $27.50 to $2,064.50 per metric ton.