LONDON -- Gold dealers in London reported surging demand for coins and
bars on Friday, with some saying stocks were tight, after a shock vote for
Britain to leave the European Union sent financial markets into meltdown and
drove the pound lower.
Gold delivered double-digit percentage gains in sterling terms on Friday,
topping 1,000 pounds an ounce for the first time in over three years, and
soared as much as 8 percent in dollars.
Volatility in the wider markets has left some retail investors scrambling
to stock up on gold, dealers say.
"We've already got queues forming," said Tony Dobra, executive
director of bullion merchants Baird & Co., which has an outlet in
London's Hatton Garden. "Sovereigns seem to be the most favoured at the
moment."
Mark O'Byrne, research director of Dublin-based gold broker Goldcore, said
it had seen record online sales for the time of day in early trade.
Sales of Britannia and sovereign coins have been extremely high, and
inventories are being replenished, he said.
The Royal Mint said visitor numbers to its bullion trading platform had
surged by 550 percent from Thursday, while new account openings had trebled.
Ross Norman, chief executive of Sharps Pixley, said his company had also
seen a surge of online business on Friday, with gold Britannia coins and kilo
bars selling out.
"We've been forced to get emergency stocks from our German and Swiss
offices," he said. "Gold is demonstrating well what it does best,
which is wealth preservation." ...
... For the remainder of the report:
http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-eu-gol...l-idUSL8N19G463
