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Gold is trading at USD 1,713.00, EUR 1,289.80,
GBP 1,099.00, CHF 1,582.10 and JPY 133,610 per ounce.
Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD
1,704.00, GBP 1,095.61, and EUR 1,282.46 per ounce.
Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,717.00, GBP
1,098.32, and EUR 1,278.67 per ounce.
Yesterday’s PM fix was USD 1,717.00, GBP
1,098.53, and EUR 1,278.69 per ounce.
 
Gold Fixes/ Rates/ Volumes – Bloomberg
Gold is mixed in various currencies but popped
nearly $15 after the Chinese announcement that they would be lowering their
bank reserve ratio. It shows the world's second largest economy is swinging
into easing mode which is not a good sign.
Hua Zhongwei,
analyst at Huachuang Securities, Beijing:
"It's the start of a relaxation cycle, and the central bank is expected
to take more steps … the economic slowdown is there, and capital
inflows are set to fall further, and many banks are finding liquidity
shortages."
Gold’s fundamentals remain very sound due
to strong broad based global demand and gold looks oversold technically.
Gold continues to consolidate, after its recent
correction, below its 100 day moving average which appears to be acting as
resistance for the moment.
The London AM and PM
Gold Fix (USD) of the last two days in a row have been identical – to
the cent – which is highly unusual. View data from LBMA Website.
On Monday and Tuesday, the 28th and the 29th of
November, the gold fix was identical in dollar terms and nearly identical in
pound and euro terms.
On Monday, the 28th, gold’s AM and PM fix
was at $1,714.00/oz.
On Tuesday, the 29th, gold’s AM and PM fix
was at $1,717.00/oz – exactly just $3.00
higher than the day before.
It may be a coincidence but if it is one, it is
highly unusual as it happens rarely.
While it has happened twice in 2011 – on
January 10th and February 2nd - it has never happened two days in a row. It
happened six times in 2010 but again never for two days in a row.
Should it happen a third day in a row today
– then questions will be asked as to whether the official sector and or
bullion banks are attempting to fix prices at this level.
This was attempted by the London Gold Pool in the
1960’s when the Federal Reserve and seven European central banks capped
and artificially suppressed the price of gold for a few years before the
controls collapsed in 1968 due to free market realities.
Gold rose 24 times in the next decade from $35/oz in 1971 to $850/oz in 1980.
Obviously, there is a motivation for attempting
to cap gold prices due to a real risk of an international monetary crisis due
to the growing European and global debt crisis – not to mention an
increasingly likely European currency crisis.
It is too soon to jump to conclusions and
judgment must be suspended for now.
It will be interesting to see what happens on the
London PM Fix at 1500 GMT today.
Cross Currency Rates - Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley has said it prefers exposure to
gold, silver and livestock in the coming year, as such commodities perform
well in a global economic slowdown.
Gold, silver and livestock are the most preferred
commodities while base metals and crude oil are the least, the bank noted.
The defensive nature of gold, and silver to a
lesser degree, will create significant investment demand as investors look
for safe havens in a period of risk aversion.
Amanda Cooper in the Reuters Global Gold Forum
reported on gold options positioning.
The shift in overnight open interest on the
most-active contracts has been mostly in favour of
upside calls, with strikes above $2000 generally seeing more increases in
OI.
The largest change in overnight open interest on
Feb options surfaced in $1950C, which rose 898 lots
to 4,178 contracts, followed by $1750C, where OI rose 410 lots to 4,437. In
the larger strikes, the most noticeable change was in $1800C, where OI fell
611 lots to 5,917 and in $2100C (-193 lots to 6,450).
For April options, the most significant change in
OI filtered through into $1200P (+201 to 1,556), $2300C (+105 to 3,360) and
$2200C (+100 to 5,011). Overall, the top three strikes by open interest
remain the same: $2000C, $2500C and $1800C.
In December 2012, there was
only very marginal changes in OI, leaving the ranking of the top three
strikes unchanged at $3000C, $2000C and $2500C.
Finally, Amanda reminds us of the put/call split
for 2012 gold options. Calls are heavily favoured
on all most-active contracts, with April calls outnumbering
puts by around 3:1 (see chart above).
Britain has evacuated all its diplomatic staff
from Iran, Western diplomatic sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Geopolitical risk remains elevated but is being
ignored by markets for now.
For breaking news and commentary on financial
markets and gold, follow us on Twitter.
SILVER
Silver is trading at $31.52/oz,
€23.68/oz and £20.19/oz
PLATINUM GROUP METALS
Platinum is trading at $1,517.70/oz, palladium at
$602.75/oz and rhodium at $1,575/oz.
NEWS
(Reuters)
Gold on course for 3rd day of gains; Europe eyed
(MarketWatch)
Gold extends gains in electronic trading
(Reuters)
Morgan Stanley says prefers gold, silver in 2012
COMMENTARY
(You Tube)
Keiser Report: Max Interviews GoldCore
re Debt Crisis & Gold
(MoneyWeek)
Get Ready
We’re Close to Another Buying Opportunity for
Gold
(GoldSeek)
Hyperinflation Warning, Preserve Value with Gold
(Paper Money Collapse)
Bubble in Government Bonds is Finally Bursting
(Sprott)
Collapse of Gold and Silver Points to Skullduggery
(GoldMoney
via Zerohedge)
Video - Chris Martenson:
Why Next 20 Years Will See Collapse Of The Exponential Function
Mark
O’Byrne
Goldcore
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