Gold News

Gold & Silver Give Back Week's Gains, "Lack New Geopolitical Worries" as Singapore Challenges London "Reference Prices"

GOLD and silver prices retraced their 0.8% and 1.2% gains for the week so far Wednesday morning in London, easing back as world stock markets fell.
 
Crude oil dropped despite Iraqi prime minister Maliki rejecting the idea of a "unity government" to fight Sunni fanatics now in control of key cities, oil installations and border posts.
 
Eastern Ukraine saw fresh violence amid the Kiev government's "ceasefire", whilst Moscow's parliament backed president Putin's request to lose his military mandate in Russia's neighbor.
 
"Iraq will remain in focus," says a note from Russian bank VTB's investment unit VTB Capital.
 
"We still expect the [gold] market to continue in narrow trading below this week's highs, seeking to consolidate after gains last week."
 
"It looks," says Robin Bhar at French investment bank and London market-maker Societe Generale, "as though the $1325 area was where the rally was capped."
 
That level was identified earlier this week by some technical analysts as where gold's downtrend since 2012 now sits.
 
"That was quite a run-up for gold," Reuters quotes Bhar, "and nothing really warranted it. What bullish catalysts could you have given that investors are not willing to go long? If anything, they want to liquidate into rallies."
 
"In the absence of any fresh geopolitical problems," Bloomberg quotes London broker Marex Spectron, "we have probably seen the highs for the time being."
 
"The correction from the highs," "has continued with some good selling seen in Asia."
 
A dip into the Shanghai close today saw China's most active gold contract end at a $1 per ounce discount to London quotes.
 
Today's Bullion Market Forum in Singapore – held by global trade body the London Bullion Market Association – was told this morning that a new 1-kilobar gold contract will be launched in the city in September.
 
Announced by the Singapore Exchange Ltd and market-development group the World Gold Council, the contract "is a timely development," said Singapore's trade minister at the conference, "given the increased requirements for reference prices to be transparent."
 
Following last week's Silver Daily Price seminar for LBMA members, the World Gold Council is inviting some central banks, gold miners and other market users to discuss "reform" of the century-old London Gold Fix at a meeting next month.

Adrian Ash

Adrian Ash, BullionVault Gold News

Adrian Ash is director of research at BullionVault, the world-leading physical gold, silver and platinum market for private investors online. Formerly head of editorial at London's top publisher of private-investment advice, he was City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning from 2003 to 2008, and he has now been researching and writing daily analysis of precious metals and the wider financial markets for over 20 years. A frequent guest on BBC radio and television, Adrian is regularly quoted by the Financial Times, MarketWatch and many other respected news outlets, and his views from inside the bullion market have been sought by the Economist magazine, CNBC, Bloomberg, Germany's Handelsblatt and FAZ, plus Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore.

See the full archive of Adrian Ash articles on GoldNews.

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