Friday, February 18, 2011

Weekend chillout

Inspired by this week's moonshot in silver to post Jan 1980 highs and gold's price recovery, please enjoy Shirley Bassey singing the James Bond movie theme "Moonraker"

lyrics ~

Where are you? Why do you hide?
Where is that moonlight trail that leads to your side?
Just like the Moonraker goes in search of his dream of gold,
I search for love, for someone to have and hold,
I've seen your smile in a thousand dreams,
Felt your touch and it always seems,
You love me,
You love me.
Where are you? When will we meet?
Take my unfinished life and make it complete.
Just like the Moonraker knows his dream will come true someday,
I know that you are only a kiss away.
I've seen your smile in a thousand dreams,
Felt your touch and it always seems,
You love me,
You love me


Jeff Nielson on the Gold & Silver Market




Keiser Report: Fakeville


Surging Gold Demand a “Global Phenomenon” - Chinese Demand for Silver “Voracious”

From Goldcore:

Israeli comments led to dollar weakness and gold, silver and oil rallying yesterday. The Israeli government described the Iranian warships move into the Suez canal as a “provocation” and hinted at a possible response.

Gold in USD – 10 Day (Tick) GoldCore
Gold in USD – 10 Day (Tick)

An example, if one was needed, about how precarious the geopolitical situation in the Middle East is and how markets continue to underestimate the risk of military conflict.

Besides the very strong fundamentals, gold is looking better and better technically. After a 4 month period of correction and consolidation gold remains below levels seen last October (see chart below).

Gold bounced off support seen at the 150 day moving average and is now above the 100 day moving average. It is only 3.5% below the nominal record high of $1,423.75/oz seen in early December 2010.

Gold in USD – 1 Year (Daily) and 150 Day Moving Average GoldCore
Gold in USD – 1 Year (Daily) and 150 Day Moving Average

Even more important is the significant increase in demand seen in India, China and globally as people buy gold to protect themselves from macroeconomic risk and deepening inflation.

The World Gold Council reports that the increase in investment demand is a 'global phenomenon', reporting a 19% year-on-year rise across the world in its most recent report this morning.

In China alone, gold investment demand jumped 70% last year as Chinese people bought gold as a store of value. Demand is projected to grow a further 40 percent to 50 percent this year and jewelry demand will expand by 8 percent to 10 percent this year.

Gold imports by India, the largest buyer of gold in the world, climbed to a record of 918 metric tonnes in 2010, driven by a surge in jewelry demand with Indians continuing to buy jewelry as a store of value.

Reuters quoted a leading Chinese executive from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (1398.HK) (601398.SS), the world's largest bank by market value, as saying that demand for gold was growing at a voracious pace due to surging inflation.

Zhou said that the huge increase in Chinese demand seen last year would happen again in 2011 due to a “choppy stock market” and concerns about how rising interest rates will affect property markets.

Perhaps most importantly and rarely mentioned in the western media is the fact that the Chinese government is encouraging their citizens to buy physical gold and silver bullion having banned gold ownership from 1950 to 2003 (see video).

"Unlike the property market, investment in the gold sector is something the government is encouraging," Zhou said.

Zhou said there was also voracious demand for silver, with ICBC bank alone selling about 13 tonnes of physical silver in January alone, compared with 33 tonnes in the whole of 2010. Were that demand to continue then demand for silver from ICBC alone could be as high as 156 tonnes this year. This would be a 370% increase on 2010.

Given the degree of demand for silver in China and internationally the forecast that silver could reach $36 an ounce this year, by Bloomberg analysts, is looking very conservative.

Those continuing to calling gold and silver “bubbles” continue to ignore the facts and the many, many extremely important developments in the gold and silver bullion markets.

China gold demand growing at "explosive" pace: ICBC

(Reuters) - Demand in China for physical gold and gold-related investments is growing at an "explosive" pace and its appetite for the yellow metal is poised to remain robust amid inflation concerns, said an Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) executive.

ICBC (1398.HK)(601398.SS), the world's largest bank by market value, sold about 7 tonnes of physical gold in January this year, nearly half the 15 tonnes of bullion sold in the whole of 2010, said Zhou Ming, deputy head of the bank's precious metals department on Wednesday.

"We are seeing explosive demand for gold. As Chinese get wealthy, they look to diversify their investments and gold stands out as a good hedge against inflation," Zhou told Reuters.

"There is also frantic demand for non-physical gold investments. We issued 1 billion yuan worth of gold-price-linked term deposits in 2010, but we managed to sell the same amount over just a few days in January this year," Zhou said, adding that such deposits would easily exceed 5 billion yuan ($759 million) this year.

Gold imports into China soared in 2010, turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a major overseas buyer for the first time.

The surge, which comes as Chinese investors look for insurance against rising inflation and currency appreciation, puts the country on track to overtake India as the world's top gold consumer and a significant force in global gold prices.

Gold prices jumped 30 percent in 2010 and struck an all-time high of $1430.95. Spot silver surged 83 percent last year and is currently hovering at around $30 per ounce.

Zhou said China's gold demand could grow at a stronger pace this year compared with 2010, as a choppy stock market and moves by Beijing to rein in property speculation and purchases means more investors will pile their cash in bullion investments.

"Unlike the property market, investment in the gold sector is something the government is encouraging," he said.

Beijing has encouraged retail consumption and announced last August measures to promote and regulate the local gold market, including expanding the number of banks allowed to import bullion.

"China has a centuries-long cultural attraction to gold and because we have started at such a low base, I think demand growth will likely stay strong for quite some time," he said....read on

David Morgan & Mike Maloney discuss the Silver & Gold markets



Precious Metals rise after protests in Libya and Bahrain