Gold Prices Dip Amid Ghana Export Halt and Waning Speculative Appetite

Gold prices retreated 0.8% to $4,144 an ounce on Friday as Ghana halted gold exports and speculative appetite waned.

The surprise supply-side intervention in West Africa combined with fading bets on further gains to keep the metal below its January peak of $5,598.58.

Net long positions held by asset managers fell to their lowest since late July, according to CFTC futures-market figures cited by Reuters, while gold ETFs shed 1.6 tonnes in the prior week, trimming total global holdings to 4,249 tonnes.

Ghana's central bank has moved to rebuild its foreign-exchange reserves, Governor Johnson Asiama said, and state gold buyer GoldBod has kept exports suspended since August.