Gold prices were also supported by reports that holdings of metal (ETFs) increased by more than 650,000 in January

The gold price hovered near unchanged Thursday at $1,747 per ounce amid relative calm in financial markets.  Strong auctions for French and Spanish sovereign debt helped keep a bid under European equity markets.  U.S. jobless claims fell last week to 367,000, slightly less than market expectations.  While the price of gold stabilized, the stronger jobs data helped boost the U.S. dollar, which pressured other commodity prices.  Oil and copper prices fell roughly 1% each to $96.95 per barrel and $3.80 per pound, respectively.

Gold prices were also supported by reports that holdings of metal exchange-traded funds (ETFs) increased by more than 650,000 in January.  This marked the first month of net inflows since October and signaled that buying interested in the yellow metal is on the rise.  The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), the world’s largest gold ETF and a proxy for the price of gold, inched higher by $0.25, or 0.2%, to $169.56 per share on Wednesday.

Commenting on the gold price, Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen wrote in a report to clients that “Buyers have returned to the euro, which is helping the situation in gold.  It had a bit of lacklustre profit-taking yesterday but didn’t break anything important on the downside, which helped confirm that being long is back in vogue.”
Hansen went on to say that “The last two weeks have done a heck of a lot to confidence, and we’ve seen that attempted corrections (in the price of gold) have been short-lived, so the mood has definitely changed, but overall, we are overbought quite significantly … so there will be some kind of consolidation.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gold edges up on weaker dollar, dovish U.S. Fed policy bets

Image
 Gold edged higher on Monday, helped by a weaker dollar and expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will reiterate its dovish monetary policy stance this week. Spot gold was up by 0.1% at $1,943.58 per ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,950.10 per ounce. “Gold is firm on the basis that the Fed could adopt a further dovish message with respect to average inflation targeting,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. “If you want to have a policy of average inflation targeting, you’re going to have to go into detail as to how you are going to arrive at that particular outcome.” The dollar retreated on Mond ay, bolstering gold’s appeal for investors holding other currencies, ahead of the Fed’s policy decision due on Wednesday. “If inflation forecasts remain at 2% or below, this could offer gold a tailwind as the zero-yielding metal thrives in a low-interest rate environment,” said FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga. Market participants are also waiting
Read more

For the gold price, two outcomes are possible.

Image
For the gold price, two outcomes are possible. First is a return to or near the April low ($1,277.40). Second is a drop to a lower low, $1,240 - $1,260. Yet a third possible outcome is that the June and December lows were not a double bottom and one further drop may come. I account that the least likely, and look for a low here by the end of the week, but I'm no more'n a nacheral born durnd fool from Tennessee, so what do I know?   You'd think that an institution charged with promoting the gold industry would produce reports that at least cast the best light on gold's prospects. You'd think wrong, if you're thinking about the World Gold Council. They've been negative on gold for, oh, the last 14 years or so. Today they issued a report that contained a nugget about Chinese business using physical gold as collateral for bank credit ($40 bn worth) but they managed to tease a gloomy forecast even out of this inventive monetary use. That and bad
Read more

The price of gold advanced as high as $1,603.40 per ounc

Image
The gold price broke out to a new all-time high above $1,600 per ounce Monday morning, rising for the eleventh consecutive trading session. The price of gold advanced as high as $1,603.40 per ounce before backing off to trade just the $1,600 level. The yellow metal gained on the back of a surge in borrowing costs for Italy, the latest European nation to see its bond market come under heavy selling pressure. The lack of a deal to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling also helped boost gold prices. The eleven-day rise in the gold price is the longest winning streak since January of 1980. The gold price delivered another noteworthy performance last week, climbing 3.2% on its way to a series of fresh record highs. With Monday’s advance, the gold price extended its monthly and year-to-date gains to 6.6% and 12.5%, respectively. Last week’s two-day Congressional testimony by Chairman Ben Bernanke on the economy and monetary policy revealed that the Fed remains open to the
Read more