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Today’s AM fix was USD
1,741.00, EUR 1,347.00, and GBP 1,087.38 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,747.25, EUR 1,349.54, and GBP 1,090.46 per
ounce.
Silver is trading at $33.80/oz, €26.32/oz and
£21.23/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,605.00/oz,
palladium at $652.25/oz and rhodium at $1,065/oz.
 
Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)
Gold and silver appear to be
consolidating after their recent gains. Gold fell $7.10 or 0.41% in New York
yesterday and closed at $1,741.30. Silver slipped to a low of $33.92 and
finished with a loss of 0.23%.
Gold remains unchanged on
Wednesday and is likely being supported by the realisation
that the Greek bailout deal may not be the success it was hailed to be, and
also the time is running out for negotiations on the US fiscal cliff.
Gold Spot $/oz, 2007-2012 – (Bloomberg)
Gold prices will rise in
2013 Citi has said and gold remains one of their favoured
commodities.
Despite some investors
turning less bullish on gold, Citi continues to be bullish on gold in 2013.
President Obama's victory was expected to be positive for gold since it would
benefit from "a continuation of dovish monetary policy". Gold
prices have also been supported by central bank gold purchases. Moreover
muted gold demand in India is expected to have picked up during Diwali.
Silver Spot $/oz, 2007-2012 –
(Bloomberg)
The yellow metal’s
appeal is still strong as evidenced by recent investments by Soros, Paulson
and other respected hedge fund managers. This buying and buying by other
institutions such as PIMCO has led to continuing growth in holdings of the
SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed ETF, which hit a record high
of 1,345.813 tonnes on November 27th.
Global gold ETP holdings
have climbed to a record for an eighth straight session showing robust demand
for gold. The amount in exchange-traded products backed by the metal rose
0.2% to 2,612.1 metric tons, data tracked by Bloomberg showed.
Total Known ETF Holdings of Gold, 2002-2012 – (Bloomberg)
In its weekly note on technicals, Commerzbank said gold is supported by a
short-term uptrend at $1,735. "We will retain our bullish view while the
current November low at $1,672.50 underpins," it said in its note picked
up by Thomson Reuters.
"Support above this
level can be seen at $1,739.09/$1,737.17 (9 November high and late September
low) as well as around the mid-November $1,705.66 low and around the minor
psychological $1,700 mark. Only if unexpectedly fallen through, would our
short term bullish view be neutralised."
Currency wars are set to
intensify as the US Senate is considering new sanctions against Iran that
would prevent Iran getting paid for its natural resource exports in gold
bullion.
The new sanctions aimed at
reducing global trade with Iran in the energy, shipping and precious metals
sectors may soon be considered by the U.S. Senate as part of an annual
defense policy bill, senators and aides said on Tuesday, according to
Reuters.
The sanctions would end
"Turkey's game of gold for natural gas," Reuters reported a senior
Senate aide as saying, referring to reports that Turkey has been paying for
natural gas with gold due to sanctions rules.
The legislation "would
bring economic sanctions on Iran near de facto trade embargo levels with the
hope of speeding up the date by which Iran's economy will collapse," the
aide said.
Last week Turkish Deputy
Prime Minister Ali Babacan has revealed a critical
detail about a widely discussed Turkey-Iran gold trade boom, disclosing that
the Islamic republic was exporting gas to Turkey in exchange for payment in
gold bullion.
It is also reported that
Iranians are buying Turkish gold with the Turkish Lira, which is deposited
into their bank accounts in exchange for Turkey’s natural gas
purchases, the deputy prime minister said at midnight Nov. 22 during a
parliamentary session.
Iran cannot transfer
monetary payments to Iran in U.S. dollars due to U.S sanctions against the
country’s alleged nuclear weapons program.
Iran has been forced to shun
the international financial system and the petrodollar as means of payment
and turn to the international gold market to ensure it gets paid for its
natural resources in order to prevent absolute economic collapse.
The law of unintended
consequences may apply here and should the Iranian currency and economy
collapse there is likely to be a war with Israel and turbulence in the Middle
East akin to, if not worse, than that seen in the 1970’s.
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