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Today's AM fix was USD 1,616.50, EUR 1,306.05, and GBP
1,028.57 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,603.50, EUR 1,306.74 and GBP 1,021.34 per
ounce.
Silver is trading at $28.19/oz,
€22.94/oz and £18.03/oz. Platinum is
trading at $1,460.50/oz, palladium at $587.30/oz and rhodium at $1,025/oz.
Gold rose $9.90 or 0.62% in
New York yesterday and closed at $1,614.00/oz. Silver surged to a high of
$28.275 and finished with a gain of 1.37%.
 
Gold continued gains on Friday receiving a boost from
Angela Merkel’s comments saying she supported ‘Super’ Mario
Draghi’s pledge “to do whatever it
takes” to save the euro.
While this sentiment lifted markets and some investors
hope ECB action is sooner rather than later - it is also creates the risk of
currency debasement and could lead to further falls in the euro.
At the beginning of August, the European Central Bank
said that it might buy Spanish bonds if the government first applied for the
European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) support. The ECB has said that
specific committees within the bank would design the appropriate mechanisms
for the bond purchases in the coming weeks, suggesting a possible green light
within a few weeks.
EFSF bond purchases require the vote of all member
states, including ratification by the German Parliament. Many investors are
waiting on the sidelines until more concrete news from the ECB and US Fed is
conveyed.
Certainly any more monetary stimulus is positive for gold
as policy makers’ favourite choice for
bolstering sagging economies risks devaluing currencies.
Barrick Gold Corp, the world's top gold miner, is
currently in negotiations with China Gold Corp, China’s top gold
producer, about selling part or all of its holdings in its African business.
This shows how China is eager to secure a greater source of global supply in
order to be able to supply the voracious Chinese market.
Mark O'Byrne, executive director of GoldCore,
talked about the outlook for gold prices and the merits of purchasing the
physical metal over derivative products with Linzie
Janis on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown" today.
He warned regarding the various “gold ponzi schemes” that have come to light recently and
advocated owning physical gold and if storing to own gold in an allocated or
segregated manner.
The Bloomberg video ‘Physical
Gold Favored Over Derivatives at GoldCore’
can be viewed here.
Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)
For breaking news and commentary on financial markets
and gold, follow us on Twitter.
NEWSWIRE
(Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor’s Warns Re South Africa Violence
Spreading
Standard & Poor’s is “concerned” about violent clashes
between labor union members and police at South African platinum mines, which
added to negative perceptions of the country, Business Day reported, citing Konrad Reuss, managing director
of S&P South Africa.
S&P has no plans to revise its negative outlook for
the country in the near term, Reuss
told the Johannesburg-based newspaper. S&P reduced the outlook on South
Africa’s BBB+ credit rating to negative from stable in March, following
similar actions by Fitch Ratings in January and Moody’s Investors
Service in November.
(PTI) -- China set to overtake India in gold imports in
2012
China is
likely to overtake India as the largest importer of gold this year on the
back of huge demand for the precious metal for jewellery
and investment in the world's second-largest economy, World Gold Council
(WGC) said today.
"In the first half, China's demand for gold stood
at 417 tonne surpassing India's 383.2 tonne in the same period," WGC Managing Director
(India and Middle East) Ajay Mitra told reporters
here.
Looking at the current trends, WGC expects China to
overtake India as the largest importer of gold.
In the first quarter of 2012 (January-March), China's
gold import stood at around 136 tonnes, lower than
India that imported 209 tonne in the same quarter.
"China is a much bigger economy than us and their
demand, especially for jewellery and investment, is
growing. The country's own supply will not be able
to meet this demand growth and the imports will rise," he said.
The fastest-growing major economy in the world consumed
roughly 761 tonne gold in 2011.
In the April-June quarter this year, China's jewellery and investment demand declined 7 per cent to
144.9 tonne from 156.6 tonne
in the corresponding quarter of 2011, due to lack of direction of gold prices
and slowdown in domestic GDP growth. However, steady growth in Chinese gold jewellery demand is expected to resume in the third
quarter as economic growth is expected to pick up following monetary easing
implemented during the second quarter.
China is the world's largest gold producer and mines
about 350 tonne of the precious metal annually.
Gold Prices/Rates/Fixes /Volumes – (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey Raises Foreign Exchange, Gold
Banks Can Keep in Reserves
Turkey’s
central bank increased the proportion of required lira reserves lenders can
keep in foreign exchange to 60 percent from 55 percent and the part that can
be kept in gold to 30 percent from 25 percent.
The change for the foreign currency portion of lira
reserves will be effective from Aug. 31 and the gold portion from Sept. 14,
the bank in Ankara said in a statement on its website today.
The changes may add as much as $7.3 billion to the
central bank’s foreign exchange reserves and supply up to 5.6 billion
liras of liquidity to the market, it said.
NEWS
Gold Poised To Advance For Third Day On Stimulus
Speculation - Bloomberg
Gold rises for 3rd day on hopes of ECB action
- Reuters
Gold CEO Departures Fastest In Decade On Stock
- Bloomberg
China National Gold considers big push into Africa
- Reuters
COMMENTARY
Bloomberg:
Physical Gold Favored Over Derivatives at GoldCore
- Bloomberg
Puzzled investors should put some silver, wine, art
and gold into their SWAG bag – The Independent
“Large buyers continue to accumulate
...providing fundamental support to gold above $1,500-$1,600 level”
- MarketWatch
Keiser Report: Frankenmarkets
and Austrian Economics – Max Keiser
Staring Down the Barrel of Bad Debt
– Daily Reckoning
The Portuguese Run Out Of Gold To Sell
– Zero Hedge
Mark
O’Byrne
Goldcore
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