it's about time... Gold investment jumps in Q3 2003 - GFMS
Tuesday November 25, 6:47 am ET
LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Speculative purchases of gold soared in the third quarter of 2003, contributing to a five percent rise in total demand, while on the supply side, sales from central banks dropped sharply year-on-year and mine production was unchanged, a report by a leading mine research group said on Tuesday.
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Gold Fields Mineral Services (GFMS) said in its Q3 Gold Supply and Demand Balance report compiled for the World Gold Council that the other main change in the period was that producer hedging contributed to supply after seven consecutive quarters of de-hedging -- or buying back previous forward sales.
Implied net investment, which essentially represents speculative purchases of gold in western markets, jumped to 185 tonnes from just two tonnes during the same period in 2002.
"Although there have been signs of a broader-based interest in gold developing, investment in the third quarter remained dominated by short-term speculative players," GFMS said in its report.
Jewellery fabrication rose five percent year-on-year to 685 tonnes, thanks mainly to strong gains in India and Turkey.
"Indeed, without these two countries, global jewellery fabrication fell. The vast majority of the losses were accounted for by Italy, in part as a result of market share loss in the United States to rival exporters," it said.
On the supply side, sales by the official sector (central banks) rose 54 percent in Q3 to 129 tonnes, but GFMS said this was due mainly to very low levels recorded in Q3 2002.
"Perhaps a fairer comparison
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