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London
Gold Market Report
THE
PRICE OF GOLD slipped from Thursday's 6-month high of $999.50 an
ounce today, dipping 1% as the US reported fewer job losses than analysts
forecast for August but unemployment still rose to a fresh 26-year high of
9.7%.
The Gold Price in Euros had touched €699 overnight, its best intra-day
level since April 2nd, before dipping to €696. UK investors wanting to
Buy Gold saw the price hold above £605 an ounce, its best level since
early June.
The US Dollar meantime rose on the currency markets, nearing the long Labor
Day weekend higher vs. the Euro from last Friday.
European stock markets bounced 1.2% from their mid-week sell-off. Gold priced
in Dollars stood 3.3% higher from this time last week.
"The exciting part of this Gold up-move," says Scotia Mocatta,
"is that it comes without US Dollar weakness."
"There has been a flight out of risky assets into Gold as a safe
haven," reckons Peter Fertig of Quantitative
Commodity Research in Germany, speaking to Bloomberg. "It's been out of
stocks."
"Also providing support to Gold Prices are reports coming out of China
that the country's main sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation
(CIC), is under pressure to cross-hedge its US Dollar exposure by investing
more funds into gold and oil," says Walter de Wet at Standard Bank.
"How quickly this transition takes place, if at all, is open for debate.
However, it has boosted sentiment."
More cautious still, "We expect the Gold Price to trend lower to
end-2009," says David Moore at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, "and
to continue to drift lower over the course of 2010 as investor interest
wanes."
Industry analysts attributed this week's sharp gains – the strongest
since the last week of May '09 – to "large fund buying", with
rumors in New York of an un-named player buying 5,000 Comex
contracts, worth some half-billion dollars.
Thursday saw the SPDR Gold ETF, listed in New York but storing in London, add
471,000 ounces – its sharpest increase since reaching an all-time
record of 1,134 tonnes hit on June 1st.
Overall, open interest in the US Gold Futures market has jumped more than 8%
in the last eight days' trading.
That compares with 2009's average weekly increase – in those weeks when
open interest has grown – of 3.1%.
World stock markets meantime pushed higher on Friday, cutting this week's
losses on London FTSE100 in half.
Crude oil rose, but agricultural commodities fell back after two months of
strong gains on news of good US harvests.
Government bond prices slipped, pushing interest rates for new buyers higher,
with 10-year German Bund yields rose to 3.37%.
Yesterday the European Central Bank held its key interest rate at 1.0% and
announced a second unlimited offer of 12-month banking loans at that record
low price.
June's offer saw the ECB – which denies the policy is
"quantitative easing" – lend €442 billion to Eurozone banks, equal to almost 5% of annual GDP.
"Financial markets will probably remain in this sweet spot for some
time," reckons Riccardo Barbieri,
head of international economics at Bank of America Securities-Merrill Lynch.
"The economic data have almost uniformly surprised on the upside, [yet]
the leading central banks have credibly signaled to the markets that monetary
conditions are set to remain extremely accommodative."
Ahead of this weekend's G20 summit of political leaders in London, an open
letter from UK premier Brown, German chancellor Merkel, and French president Sarkozy says that while "there is no alternative to
the policy measures adopted to fight the crisis...we should work on exit
strategies to be implemented...as soon as the crisis has ended."
"Note that an exit strategy is not identical to a particular course of
action," said ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet in
a speech this morning. "Rather, it lays out a framework and set of
principles to govern actions in the face of circumstances in whatever form
they take.
Adrian Ash
Head of
Research
Bullionvault.com
Also
by Adrian Ash
City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London, Adrian Ash is
head of research at BullionVault.com – giving you direct access to investment
gold, vaulted in Zurich, on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.
Please Note: This article is
to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for
your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk.
Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events
– and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on
it.
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