Gold near highest price in 18 years
2005/11/19
SEOUL, Bloomberg
Gold traded near its highest price in almost 18 years in Asian trading as investors bought the precious metal amid speculation prices may extend their gains.
Gold may reach US$500 an ounce around Christmas and US$550 an ounce toward the end of the first quarter next year, Jonathan Barratt, director of foreign exchange and commodities at Tricom Futures Services Pty said Friday. Spot gold, heading for a fifth-straight annual gain, rose 1.4 Thursday after a report showed investors are seeking alternatives to U.S. and European currencies, stocks and bonds.
The rising gold price is "purely the funds flexing their muscles," Warwick Schneller, a commodity analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia Pty, said by phone today from Sydney. "The market sentiment is bullish and often, that's enough. The gold market is going to push toward US$500 for no other reason but for emotional buying."
Gold for immediate delivery fell US$1.11, or 0.2 percent, to US$484.89 at 4:34 p.m. Sydney time Friday after ending trading in New York Thursday at US$486, the highest close since December 1987.
Spot gold prices have gained 11 percent this year, beating the Standard & Poor's 500 Index's 2.6 percent gain.
Demand for gold coins, bars and bullion-backed shares rose 56 percent in the third quarter, the producer-funded World Gold Council said in a report Thursday. Investors and jewelers bought US$12.5 billion worth of gold, or 838 metric tons in the third quarter, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier, the London- based council said. Jewelry demand accounts for 73 percent of gold consumption.
Gold for December delivery fell as much as US$1.60 cents, or 0.3 percent, to US$485.30 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange in after-hours electronic trading Thursday. It traded at US$485.50 at 4:35 p.m. Sydney time Friday. The metal closed at US$486.90 Thursday, the highest closing price since January 1988.
In India, the world's biggest gold consumer, prices for metal for December delivery fell 18 rupees, or 0.25 percent to 7,158 rupees per 10 grams, or 22,261.38 rupees (US$487) per ounce, at 10:54 a.m. on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. Friday.
Cash is King until further notice!!!
My comments on companies are usually my opinion of long term success (years). The PPS may go up or down greatly in the meantime depending on the number of greedy suckers with money.
