Gold Rebounds With Silver From Lowest Levels Since August 2010 By Glenys Sim & Phoebe Sedgman - Jun 27, 2013 11:39 AM GMT+0500 Facebook Share Tweet LinkedIn Google +1 COMMENTS Print QUEUE Q Gold and silver rose for the first time in four days, rallying from the lowest since August 2010, as investors weighed the Federal Reserve’s stimulus plans and bullion holdings in the top exchange-traded product held steady. Bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 1.5 percent to $1,244.85 an ounce and was at $1,241.85 at 1:59 p.m. in Singapore, after plunging to $1,222 yesterday. Silver gained 1.8 percent to $18.8435 an ounce, paring the worst quarterly loss since 1980, when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market. Gold has lost 22 percent since the start of April, heading for a record quarterly loss, as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week the central bank may slow asset purchases if the economy continues to improve. Data this week showed that U.S. economic growth in the first quarter missed estimates, while durable-goods orders, consumer confidence and home sales rose. “Sentiment has certainly moved and we’ve had a rash of liquidation,” Jonathan Barratt, chief executive officer of commodity newsletter Barratt’s Bulletin, said by phone from Sydney. “We’ve still got major issues out there, stimulus hasn’t started to be wound back, yet they’ve decided to punish the metal.” Gold’s rout this quarter is the biggest since at least 1920, according to data compiled by Bloomberg starting that year. Prices are heading for the third three-month decline, the worst run since 2001, and are set to halt a 12-year winning streak. ETP Outflows Gold has dropped 26 percent this year as investors lost faith in the metal as a protection of wealth amid record outflows from ETPs. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest bullion-backed ETP, were unchanged yesterday after declining to the least since February 2009 on June 25. Holdings have shrunk 21 percent this quarter, the biggest slide since the fund was introduced in 2004. Gold for August delivery climbed as much as 1.2 percent to $1,244.20 an ounce on the Comex and traded at $1,240.60. Prices tumbled to $1,221 yesterday, the lowest since August 2010. Futures’ 14-day relative strength index was at 26.6, below the level of 30 that indicates to some analysts who study charts that a rebound may be imminent. Silver, the worst-performer on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of commodities this year, plunged to $18.445 yesterday, also the lowest level since August 2010, and has retreated 38 percent this year. This quarter, it’s declined 34 percent. Hunt Brothers Silver plummeted 58 percent in the first three months of 1980. The collapse came after William Herbert Hunt and brothers, Nelson Bunker and Lamar, bought more than 195 million ounces in the 1970s. In 1988, a federal court found that the three had attempted to illegally corner the market. One ounce of gold bought as much as 66.3981 ounces of silver today, after the ratio climbed to 66.4701 yesterday, the highest since August 2010. Spot platinum gained 1.5 percent to $1,323.75 an ounce, paring a decline this quarter to 16 percent. That’s still the worst performance since the three months to September 2008, when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed. Palladium rose 1.7 percent to $643 an ounce after touching $630.50, the lowest since November. Prices have lost 17 percent since the start of April, the most since the three months to September 2011.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 07:12:57 +0000
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