Today’s AM fix was USD 1,288.50, EUR 964.27 and GBP 765.23 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,292.75, EUR 965.03 and GBP 765.71
per ounce.
Gold fell $0.40 or 0.03% yesterday to $1,288.10/oz and silver slid $0.38
or 1.88% to $19.81/oz.
President Putin Admires Gold Bar (London Good Delivery Bar)
Gold is marginally higher in London this morning but remains in a tight
range between 1,287/oz and 1,292/oz. Trade remains lackluster and futures
trading volume was 50% below the average for the past 100 days this morning,
Bloomberg data shows. Overnight gold
in Singapore was marginally higher consolidating on the spike in gold
seen in late trading in New York.
Silver for immediate delivery rose 0.5% to $19.85 an ounce. Spot platinum
was flat at $1,454.63 an ounce, while palladium added 0.2% to $851 an ounce.
Gold remains in its summer doldrums despite the western world sleepwalking
into another major conflict with Russia and potentially another World War.
Gold in US Dollars - 5 Years (Thomson Reuters)
European stocks fell today as nervous investors sold stocks on reports of
a build-up of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine.Polish foreign
minister Sikorski said Russia has gathered substantial military forces at the
border with Ukraine to either put pressure on the neighbouring country or to
enter it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to prepare
retaliatory measures against the latest round of Western sanctions. Russian
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev threatened on yesterday to retaliate for the
grounding of a subsidiary of national airline Aeroflot because of EU sanctions,
with one newspaper reporting that European flights to Asia over Siberia could
be banned.
Premiums for gold
bars in India remain depressed and in China premiums remain at $2 to $3
suggesting demand continues in China but at lower levels than those seen last
year.
Russia Delivers Blow To Petrodollar In Historic $20 Billion Iran
Oil Deal
Russia signed a historic $20 billion oil deal with Iran to bypass both
western sanctions and the dollar based western monetary system yesterday.
Currency
wars are set to escalate as the petro dollar’s decline continues.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Iranian counterpart Bijan
Zanganeh signed a five-year memorandum of understanding in Moscow, which
included cooperation in the oil sector.
"Based on Iran's proposal, we will participate in arranging shipments
of crude oil, including to the Russian market," Novak was quoted as
saying.
The five year accord will see Russia help Iran “organise oil sales” as
well as “cooperate in the oil-gas industry, construction of power plants,
grids, supply of machinery, consumer goods and agriculture products”,
according to a statement by the Energy Ministry in Moscow.
The deal could see Russia buying 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil a day, the
Moscow-based Kommersant newspaper has previously reported. Under the proposed
deal Russia would buy up to 500,000 barrels a day or a third of Iranian oil
exports in exchange for Russian equipment and goods.
The Russian government withdrew the statement regarding the deal last
night, but said it would issue a new statement today.
In January, Russia said that they were negotiating an oil-for-goods swap
worth $1.5 billion a month that would enable Iran to lift oil exports
substantially to Russia, undermining Western sanctions.
Yesterday, the Russian President told regional leaders that “the political
tools of economic pressure are unacceptable and run counter to all norms and
rules.” He said in response to western sanctions he had given orders to
boost domestic manufacturers at the expense of non-Russian ones.
The White House has previously said that reports of talks between Russia
and Iran were a matter of "serious concern".
Reserve Currencies In History - Dollar's Demise Continues
"If the reports are true, such a deal would raise serious concerns as
it would be inconsistent with the terms of the agreement with Iran,"
Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council,
said in January.
U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia threaten to hasten a move
away from the petro dollar that’s been slowly occurring since the global
financial crisis.
See important guide to Currency Wars here Currency
Wars: Bye, Bye Petrodollar - Buy, Buy Gold
