GDP: Great Day to Play

Good Day,

Friday’s market sessions in precious metals started off on a tamer note, following the best gains in gold in three weeks. Explanations follow. The recapture of the $1045 area is noteworthy, although analysts we polled during the wee hours overseas are trying to define the move as everything from a ‘one-hit wonder’ to the ‘re-ignition of what we saw during most of October.’

The Bloomberg weekly survey foresees weaker gold prices come next week - not by a large margin (57% bearish)- but still focusing on a potential comeback by the US currency, the early signs of which became visible this past Monday. Demand for the yellow metal once again slipped away in India, following signs of life during the earlier part of the week when values came close to $1025 per ounce. The country recorded its sixth straight month of declining gold imports, despite a decent gain during September – in anticipation of festival-related sales.

New York spot dealings opened with a $2.60 loss in gold bullion, which was quoted at $1043.20 bid, as against a euro-dollar seen at $1.4798 and the USD index steady-to-higher, at 76.05, with little in the way of fresh news thus far this morning. Oil prices gave back about 50 cents of their whopper-sized Thursday gains, slipping to $79.32 per barrel. Risk traders took a latte break this morning, and this gave the dollar a moment to try to re-group.

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Read the rest of Gold, Silver, Metal Prices: Commentary – 10/30/2009 (2,324 words)

New figures have revealed that Indian gold imports surged by 72 per cent between August and September as a result of higher demand ahead of the festival season.
According to the Bombay Bullion Association, imports rose from 21.8 tonnes in August to 37.5 tonnes last month, the Economic Times reports.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

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Investment in gold is on the rise in Nepal as it is regarded as a hedge against inflation, according to the president of the Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association.
Speaking to My Republica, Ratna Shakya commented that gold imports to the country this year are expected to exceed the 5,000kg recorded in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

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Chinese imports of gold rose to 112 tonnes last year, new figures have revealed.
Speaking at the Gold Outlook 2009 event yesterday (October 22nd), Lila Lu of China Minsheng Bank said this increase was primarily down to a 176 per cent surge in investment demand and a 21 per cent rise in jewellery buying.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

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A state-run Indian bank has revealed that it hopes to keep its total gold imports steady for the current financial year.
Speaking to Reuters, general manager of Union Bank of India’s international banking division S Rajendren said the establishment is looking to maintain the figure of 40 tonnes of gold imports recorded for 2008.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

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New figures have revealed that Indian imports of gold increased in September compared with the previous month.
Imports stood at between 35 and 40 tonnes last month, higher than August’s total of 22 tonnes, according to Bombay Bullion Association statistics reported by Reuters.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

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High prices are blamed for denting demand for the yellow metal in its largest market

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Gold imports into India in the first 30 days of July were between 8 and 10 t against 24 t in all of July a year ago, the head of Bombay Bullion Association (BBA) said on Thursday.

"The reason for the fall is the same – the prices are too high," Suresh Hundia, president of the BBA told Reuters.

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New research says gold imports to India, the No.1 market, could halve in 2009…

GOLD IMPORTS to India, the world’s largest consumer and importer of the yellow metal, could drastically fall to around 200 tonnes during 2009 if the current trend continues, says a bullion research note released by Commodity Online India Limited (COIL).

“India managed to import only around 32 tonnes of gold during January, February, March and April this year,” says the COIL report. “Dull jewelry buying and record high Gold Prices have even resulted in exports of scrap gold from India to destinations like Dubai.”

COIL publishes Commodity Online, the integrated global commodities portal published in Mumbai.

Global economic meltdown, uncertainty in stocks and commodities markets and volatility in Gold Prices have had a major impact on India’s gold imports so far in 2009. In January, gold import by India was a paltry 1.8 tonnes against 18 tonnes in January 2008. In February and March, gold imports to India fell to zero levels, the worst in the last decade or more.

In April, gold imports picked up momentum, largely thanks to the ongoing marriage season and gold buying religious festivals like Akshaya Thritiya. The Bombay Bullion Association said last week that in April, India imported around 30 tonnes of gold.

Based on India’s gold import in the last four months, and looking at the probability of imports in the coming seven months, the bullion research analysis from Commodity Online says that India’s 2009 imports will be the lowest in at least eight years.

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Dubai’s gold imports in the first quarter of 2009 grew to 140 t, up 15 percent from the same period of the previous year, according to data from Dubai World Group.

The value of the gold trade rose nearly 5 percent to $7,4 billion in the first three months of the year when compared with the first quarter of last year, data showed.

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