|
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,657.75, EUR 1,319.03 and
GBP 1,047.68 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,657.00, EUR 1,320.21 and GBP 1,046.48 per
ounce.
Silver is trading at $30.61/oz,
€24.42/oz and £19.39/oz. Platinum is
trading at $1,516.00/oz, palladium at $617.00/oz and rhodium at $1,025/oz.
Gold fell $0.80 or 0.05% in New York yesterday and
closed at $1,655.30. Silver hit a high of $30.90 then edged down to $30.215
and surged higher, but finished trading with a loss of 1.04%.
 
G10 & Precious Metals Currency Ranked Returns 1
Month (31/07/2012-31/08/2012) – Bloomberg
Gold is hovering today near the 4 ½ month high
hit during the week as investors await the US Fed Chairman Ben
Bernanke’s speech at 1400 GMT from the Jackson Hole Symposium.
Bullion will benefit as an inflation hedge if Bernanke
announces more bond buying and additional monetary stimulus measures for the
US economy. However, there is the real possibility that Bernanke merely hints
at more QE again today prior to launching QE in September.
Bernanke is likely to wait for the August US jobs data
due next week and use that as the reason to announce further QE and money
printing measures at the Fed’s policy meeting on September 12-13.
Bernanke merely hinting at such measures today could
result in a bout of risk off that sends equities lower and the precious metals
lower – in the short term.
Gold has been gradually trending higher over the
traditionally weak summer months. It is on track for a nearly 3% gain in
August (see table above), continuing its 3rd consecutive month of gradual
gains. This sets gold up for a strong few months ahead in the traditionally
stronger autumn months.
Silver surged 9% in August and is also well positioned
for the autumn months when it tends to move higher with gold. The gold silver
ratio at 53 remains favourable to silver and we
believe it could revert to levels closer to 30 again in the coming weeks and
again outperform gold.
Combine an inflation adjusted high gold at $2,400/oz by a gold silver ratio of 30 to 1 and one gets a
silver price of $80/oz which remains quite possible
in 2013.
The mining tragedy and ongoing serious difficulties in
the mining sector in South Africa saw platinum rise 6.4% while palladium was
4.8% higher.
The Norwegian krone was the strongest fiat currency in
August while the Aussie and Kiwi dollars and Japanese yen all came under
pressure.
G10 & Precious Metals Currency Ranked Returns YTD
(30/12/2011-31/08/2012) – Bloomberg
August strong gains for the precious metals mean that
gold, silver and platinum are now respectively 6%, 9.7% and 8.5% higher year
to date.
Palladium remains the laggard and remains down 4.7%
year to date.
NEWSWIRE
(Bloomberg) -- Economist Gartman Swaps Gold
in Yen for Gold in Euros, Dollars
Economist Dennis Gartman said he’s
swapping his gold position priced in yen for the metal priced in dollars and
euros.
He is “remaining bullish of gold generally, but
shifting our currency exposure,” he said today in his daily Gartman Letter.
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey July Trade Gap Narrowed on
Slowing Economy, Iran Gold
Turkey’s July trade deficit shrank 14 percent from a year earlier to
$7.9 billion after a slowing economy crimped demand for imports, and exports
of precious metals and stones to Iran surged.
The deficit narrowed from $9.2 billion in July last
year, the statistics office in Ankara said on its website today. It exceeded
a $7.7 billion median estimate of six economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Imports fell 1.5 percent to $20.8 billion and exports climbed 8.5 percent to
$12.9 billion.
Demand for imports last year widened the trade deficit
to a record, helping push the lira down 18 percent against the dollar, the
biggest decline among global currencies. July was the ninth month that the
deficit narrowed, after the central bank raised interest rates to slow the
economy and put an end to the import boom.
The lira strengthened 0.2 percent to 1.8225 per dollar
at 10:31 a.m. in Istanbul.
Exports of precious metals and stones to Iran surged to
$1.8 billion in July from $42,000 a year ago. That trade has expanded after
sanctions made it harder for Iranians to make transactions in foreign
currencies, while inflation and the rial’s
slide have boosted demand for gold in Iran.
The overall trade deficit in the first seven months of
the year declined 20 percent to $50.7 billion, the agency said. The share of
goods sold to the European Union fell to 34 percent from 37 percent in June
and 48 percent a year ago.
(Bloomberg) -- Gold Producers May Benefit From Rally in
Gold Price, SocGen Says
Additional QE measures may be announced in mid-Sept. so there may be further
upside to gold price, Societe Generale
says in note.
●Forecasts avg. $1,700/oz
for 3Q, avg. $1,760/oz in 4Q: SocGen
●Disappointing performance of the equities is
largely due to rising operating costs (labor and energy), higher capital
costs and greater political risk: SocGen
Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)
NEWS
Gold heads for third monthly rise; Bernanke speech
eyed - Reuters
Gold rises ahead of Bernanke speech
– Market Watch
European shares edge down as Bernanke speech looms
- Reuters
Crop Traders Extend Bull Run as Rain Comes Too Late
- Bloomberg
COMMENTARY
Time for eurozone to reach
for the gold reserves? – Financial Times
Video: Should the U.S. Return to the Gold Standard?
- Bloomberg
Debunking the biggest conspiracy theories in finance
– Financial Post
Auguries—Plus ça
change
– Resource Clips
Gold standard: Could it return in the US?
- BBC
Mark
O’Byrne
Goldcore
|