Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD
1,765.00, EUR 1,316.18, and GBP 1,113.28 per ounce.
Friday's AM fix was USD 1,778.50, EUR 1,328.23, and GBP
1,125.412 per ounce.
Currency Table – (Bloomberg)
Gold ticked higher initially in Asia before seeing
slight price falls and that weakness has continued in European trading with
gold lower in most currencies.
G20 nations rebuffed calls from the euro area to boost
the IMF’s bailout fund and this may have contributed to the slip which
was also seen in Asian and European equities, U.S. index futures, oil and
other commodities.
Markets await US home sales which come out at 1500 GMT.
Investors expect the ECB to inject another massive half a trillion euros to
banks in the 2nd tier of a three year long-term financing operation in the
vain hope that this will allow European finance minister’s to solve the
debt crisis.
At best it will bide time and it is a sign that
debasement of the euro is set to continue with obvious inflationary
implications.
Gold bullion prices gained 3% last week as concerns
that the Greek bailout is another exercise in kicking the giant beer can down
the battered road. Investors rightly expect further loose
money policies which will support gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge.
Analysts are still bullish on gold especially with the
very tense Middle Eastern situation and the crisis with Iran and Syria
showing no signs of being resolved.
Gold Spot $/oz Daily –
(Bloomberg)
The dollar is near a 2 month low and the Japanese yen
has fallen sharply in recent weeks which has gold in
yen at its highest since September 2011.
For the week of February 21st gold futures and options
are at their highest level in 5 months, US Commodity Futures Trading
Commission data show.
Spot platinum, which rose to a 5 month high at
$1,731.50 and surged 5% last week, has fallen 0.4 percent to $1,701.24.
Reuters noted that South Africa's Impala Platinum had
agreed to rehire thousands of miners sacked for an illegal strike that halted
production for more than a month at the world's biggest platinum mine, a
leading union said on Saturday.
There are conflicting reports from the IMF and
Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, this
morning about an increase in Swedish gold reserves.
The IMF data on central bank demand in January showed
that Sweden raised its gold reserves by 18.3 metric tons to 144 tons in
January.
The data on the International Monetary Fund’s
website was gold bullish showing continued demand for gold by central banks
internationally. Belarus added 5 tons to reserves, Kazakhstan raised reserves
by 7.6 tons and Turkey increased gold reserves by 4.1 tons.
They were two quite odd minor reductions in gold
reserves. Mexico reduced bullion reserves by 0.1 ton and Tajikistan cut them
by 0.3 ton, according to the IMF.
However soon after the increase in Sweden’s gold
reserves was reported by Bloomberg, Sweden’s central bank gold
reserves contradicted the IMF data and denied that they had increased their
reserves.
Joanna Gerwin, acting head of
communication for the Riksbank, told Bloomberg that
Swedish gold reserves were unchanged at 125.7 metric tons in January.
Officials at the IMF’s office in Paris said
nobody in Europe was able to comment. Alistair Thomson, a spokesman for the
IMF in Washington, didn’t immediately reply to a voicemail and e-mail
from Bloomberg outside normal business hours.
Interestingly, the Riksbank
sold 36.6 tons under the Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA) from 2007-2009.
An increase in reserves of 18.3 tonnes is exactly
half of the amount sold and would mean that the Riksbank
had bought back half of the gold sold from 2007 to 2009.
Reuters have contacted the Swedish central bank to see
what might be behind the discrepancy in what Bloomberg are quoting them as
saying and the IMF figures themselves. We have yet
to receive an explanation from the Riksbank about
what might have caused the discrepancy in gold reserve data.
However, a Riksbank
spokeswoman told Reuters the central bank did not buy gold in January.
"We don't know what has happened," the spokeswoman said, referring
to the discrepancy in the figures.
We await clarity from the IMF and it will be
interesting to see how the discrepancy is accounted for and explained.
This is an occurrence that we are likely to see occur
in the coming months and years as western central banks realise
the absolute folly of selling their gold reserves in recent years, including
and especially the Bank of England, and begin to diversify their foreign
exchange reserves by buying gold bullion again.
Western central bank gold buying is likely to be seen in the coming months
and years as western central banks realise the
absolute folly of selling their gold reserves in recent years, including and
especially the Bank of England, and begin to diversify their foreign exchange
reserves by buying gold bullion again.
For breaking news and commentary on financial markets
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OTHER NEWS
(Bloomberg) -- Barclays Capital Says its ‘Staying Bullish for
Gold’
Barclays Capital said it’s “staying bullish for gold,”
adding that its initial target for the precious metal is near $1,800 an
ounce.
“We would prefer to buy dips against the recent
$1,700 range lows and look for an eventual break above $1,800 to open our next
target at $1,836,” the bank said in an
e-mailed statement. The bank forecast the metal to average $1,875 an ounce
during 2012.
SILVER
Silver is trading at $35.11/oz,
€26.21/oz and £22.15/oz.
PLATINUM GROUP METALS
Platinum is trading at $1,691.75/oz, palladium at
$696.08/oz and rhodium at $1,475/oz.
NEWS
(Reuters)
Gold slips as Europe concerns linger; oil supportive
(Reuters)
Gold traders book deals as prices off 10-week high
(Bloomberg)
Rising Oil Prices Could Send Gold “Much
Higher,” UBS Says
(Bloomberg)
Video: Zoellick Says No
`Silver Bullet' for Europe Crisis
COMMENTARY
(Max Keiser)
Keiser Report: Bubbling Economy
(Zero Hedge)
Buffett Letter To Shareholders 2020: "I told
you to run away from gold. I was dead wrong."
(Los Angeles Times)
China refines its role in global gold market
(King World News)
Central Bank Buying Has Gold Shorts Trapped
(Future Money Trends)
FutureMoneyTrends Interview Chris Powell of GATA
(King World News)
Embry - Fending Off Collapse & Next Move for
Gold, Silver, Oil
(JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN)
Tokyo Based Hedge Fund AIJ May Have Lost/Stolen All
Customer Pension Fund Money
(Zero Hedge)
Grant Williams On The Simplicity Of Owning Gold
Mark
O’Byrne
Goldcore
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