PRECIOUS METAL PRODUCERS

[NYBob]

NY Gold, Silver Give Up Gains Late In Day -
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Comex gold and silver futures finished slightly mixed Friday
after giving up earlier gains on apparent long liquidation,
traders and analysts said.

The metals were boosted for most of the session by a sharply
weaker U.S. dollar and higher crude oil, before
profit-taking set in ahead of the close, traders said.

One suggested there may have been some disappointment that
the metals had not fared even better when the moves in so
many other markets were bullish for gold.

August gold settled up 50 cents to $650.90 an ounce on
the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Around the time pit trade was closing, the August contract
at the Chicago Board of Trade was up $1.50 to $651.90.

Comex September silver fell 3.2 cents to $12.473.
Shortly after it closed,
CBOT September silver was down 5.8 cents to $12.44.

Comex August gold had risen as high as $655, its strongest
level since Monday, and September silver to $12.675,
its strongest level since Tuesday.
But then came the late-day declines.

A floor trader commented after the close that the metals
simply drifted lower on a generally slow trading day.

"There was probably some profit-taking," he said,
but adding that no technical damage occurred, as no sell
stops were hit.

Jon Nadler, analyst with Kitco Bullion Dealers,
commented that some pre-holiday book squaring set in ahead
of the Fourth of July in the U.S. next week.

Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management,
said he was "amazed" that gold hadn't rallied more
strongly considering the moves elsewhere.
Others may have also developed the opinion and said
"I just want out," he continued.

"When markets don't respond to good news, it's not a good
sign," Kaplan said.
He later added, "I think people got discouraged because it
wasn't doing all that well.
Here you have the dollar getting killed, the oil up a buck
and bonds are up big.
It didn't make any sense."

Dollar weakness and crude-oil strength tend to boost
the metals, and both of those occurred on Friday.
As gold was closing, August crude oil was up $1.05 to
$70.62 a barrel, and the euro had risen to $1.3530
from $1.34350 late Thursday.

Otherwise, gold initially showed signs of stabilizing
after the August futures bottomed at a 5 1/2-month low
of $641.10 earlier in the week, said Ralph Preston,
senior market analyst with Heritage West Financial.

"The dollar really took a shellacking this morning,"
he said about the most recent impetus.
"We sold off in the dollar, and that played into the
metals bull camp."

"Gold prices are still very much the function of U.S.
dollar, where the inverse correlation remains very strong,"
said Gary DeDuke, fund manager with Corsair Trading.
"And despite the solid manufacturing Chicago PMI data,
robust construction, and recovering consumer sentiment
in the U.S. reported this morning, the dollar has been
under pressure just as gold prices rebound above
the $650 level."

The dollar came into the session weaker, then didn't get
any help when a portion of the personal income and
spending report showed that the annual
personal consumption expenditures price index -
excluding food and energy -
was up 1.9% last month, falling below the Fed's 2%
"comfort zone," DeDuke said.

Also, he said, the dollar's sell-off began overnight
when concerns rose that China's central bank may diversify
some of its U.S. Treasury holdings in favor of its own
special bond offering. Another currency analyst suggested
the dollar's overnight weakness may have been tied to
a reassessment of the Federal Reserve's late-Thursday
statement, with some thinking it may have been
softer on inflation than initially thought.

"Support (for gold) at $640 is likely to be preserved
into next week, particularly as dollar downside bias
is reinforced by central bank meetings in the U.K. and
the euro zone," DeDuke said.

Meanwhile, October platinum inched up 50 cents to $1,286.50 an ounce, while
September palladium dipped $2 to $368.50 an ounce. These metals tended to be
near steady even when gold was stronger.

A softer dollar normally might also support these metals, but on this day the
platinum group metals were largely sidelined as they continued to monitor the
labor situation in South Africa, said one trader. Contract offers between Anglo
Platinum and a union representing workers has narrowed, he explained. This
comes after Impala Platinum and union representatives recently had also
narrowed their difference.

"We're in a wait-and-see period," said the trader. "We got some encouraging
news from South Africa."

Earlier in the month when the parties were farther apart, the potential for a
labor disruption had supported platinum.


Settlements (includes open-outcry and electronic trading):
London PM Gold Fix: $650.50 versus $647.25 Thursday
Spot gold at 1:31 p.m. ET: $649.85, up $1.10 from previous day; Range:
$646.55-$652.55
August gold (GCQ07) $650.90, up 50 cents; Range $648.80-$655
September silver (SIU07) $12.473, down 3.2 cents; Range $12.355-$12.675
October platinum (PLV07) $1,286.50, up 50 cents; Range $1,282-$1,291
September palladium (PAU07) $368.50, down $2; Range $366-$369.20

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Second wave LT trend started - of the 5-wave Elliott pattern -


NXG is undervalued - oversold -
strategic bargain bottom fishing -

btw.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report Washington is considering
deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea
opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three
US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as
the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.

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What do you think about higher Gold - energy prices?
Imo. Tia.