Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,588.00, EUR 1,251.08, and GBP 1,005.13 per ounce. Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,547.00, EUR 1,217.44and GBP 974.00 per ounce.
Silver is trading at $28.53/oz, €22.55/oz and £18.12/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,465.00/oz, palladium at $603.80/oz and rhodium at $1,300/oz.
Gold climbed $34.30 or 2.23% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,573.70/oz. Gold began trading sideways in Asia then climbed over 12 points reaching a high of $1,589.31. Gold edged off a bit in Europe and is now trading near the $1,587/oz level at 1055GMT.
Gold rose for its 2nd day on concerns that Europe’s debt crisis is growing and the yellow metal is once again seeing increased demand as a safe haven asset.
Fitch’s downgrade of Greece’s credit rating sent the euro to a 4 month low against the dollar and investors wonder if Greece will be able to continue in the EU fiscal union. The gold price jumped over $30 yesterday its most since January, and news from a US report on manufacturing in Philadelphia showed contraction for the first time in over 2 quarters.
Moody’s Investor Service downgraded 16 Spanish banks yesterday, including Banco Santander, the euro zone’s largest bank. All the banks’ long-term debt ratings were decreased by at least one grade and some suffered three-grade cuts. This is just days after Moody’s downgrade of 26 Italian banks on Monday.
Spain’s banks like those in other EU countries (PIIGS) have been left with a sea of bad loans after the real estate bubble burst and investors see a state bailout as extremely difficult in light of the country’s limited public finances.
GoldCore’s Mark O’Byrne interview on Bloomberg TV
Goldcore’s Mark O’Byrne was interviewed by Bloomberg yesterday discussing the World Gold Council Report, Gold Demands Trend (Q1 2012) – Enter The Dragon, on demand in Asia. “We could be witnessing a paradigm shift from China on bullion demand”, Mark O’Byrne also notes, “that the gold market was liberalised in China in 2003 and prior to that gold ownership was banned in China by Chairman Mao. The per capita consumption of 1.3 billion Chinese consumers, investors and central bank demand are very significant.”
Please click here or on the image to listen to Mark’s full interview.
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NEWS
Gold Climbs A Second Day As Europe Concern Boosts Demand – Bloomberg
Gold extends gains, but heads for 3rd straight weekly drop – Reuters
COMMENTARY
Gold futures slip in electronic trading – MarketWatch
Gold erases early gains as euro weakens – Reuters
China’s Appetite for Gold – Bloomberg
