Good point on the PP....doubt if anyone flips it for $.20 but who knows? How " sticky " were the buyers in the PP? Would think most are in for the long term, normally a couple of " whales " gobble up the majority of PP's. Anyone know who headlined ours? Sprott...or?
The " mindless " inverse trade continues this am. Dollar down - gold up. Some day the PM's will trade on their own merits.
Gold rose in London, heading forthe longest streak of quarterly gains in three decades, asfighting in Libya and concerns about European debt spurreddemand for an alternative investment.
Troops loyal to Muammar Qaddafi forced Libyan rebels toretreat as the U.S. and U.K. said they would consider armingopposition forces. Gold reached a record $1,447.82 an ounce onMarch 24 as fighting in Libya, the Japanese nuclear crisis andconcerns about European debt boosted demand for a protection ofwealth.
“Given the unrest in the Middle East and North Africaregion, increasing debt issues in the euro zone and theenvironment of historically low interest rates, gold and silvershould continue to remain underpinned and test towards recenthighs,” James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com inLondon, said in a report.
Immediate-delivery bullion rose $6.95, or 0.5 percent, to$1,429.97 an ounce by 11:43 a.m. in London. Prices are up 0.6percent this quarter. A 10th quarterly increase would be thebest run of gains since 1979. Gold for June delivery was 0.4percent higher at $1,431 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
Bullion rose to $1,431 an ounce in the morning “fixing”in London, used by some mining companies to sell output, from$1,425.50 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing.
Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa quit Qaddafi’sgovernment as rebels were forced to abandon much of theterritory they captured after the U.S.-led air campaign againstQaddafi’s army began almost two weeks ago. The fighting in Libyais the most violent seen in more than two months of popularuprisings across the Middle East and North Africa.
Portuguese Debt
Standard & Poor’s this week cut credit ratings for Greeceand Portugal, and the cost of insuring Portuguese governmentdebt reached a record according to CMA prices, as speculationmounted the nation will be forced to restructure its borrowings.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been spraying water on thereactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant damaged after thismonth’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Work to repair theplant’s monitoring and cooling systems has been hampered bydiscoveries of hazardous radioactive water. The governmenthasn’t ruled out pouring concrete over the whole facility as oneway to shut it down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
Gold and silver are being supported by “inflation,geopolitical and euro-zone debt concerns,” analysts at GoldCoreLtd. in Dublin said in a report.
Inflation Accelerates
European inflation unexpectedly accelerated to 2.6 percentin March, the fastest in more than two years, the EuropeanUnion’s statistics office said today.
Gains were limited this quarter on signs the U.S. economyis improving, boosting investor appetite for higher-yieldingassets like stocks. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank PresidentJames Bullard yesterday said the central bank may need to beginpulling back from record levels of monetary accommodation evenamid uncertainties in Japan and the Middle East.
Silver for immediate delivery gained 0.7 percent to $37.715an ounce. It reached $38.165 on March 24, the highest levelsince February 1980, the year the metal reached a record $50.35in New York. Prices are up 22 percent this year, heading for aninth straight quarterly advance, the best run of gains since atleast 1950. A close at the current price would also the highestsince at least 1950.
An ounce of gold bought as little as 37.72 ounces of silverin London today, the lowest level since October 1983, datacompiled by Bloomberg show. Silver is used more in industry thangold.
“Increasing global investment and industrial demand in thevery small and finite silver bullion market is a recipe forhigher prices,” GoldCore analysts said. With gold near arecord, “silver is the cheap alternative to gold and anattractive store of value.”
Palladium was up 1.3 percent at $763 an ounce, and is down4.8 percent this quarter. Platinum was little changed at$1,775.50 an ounce. Prices are up 0.3 percent this quarter.
To contact the reporters on this story:Nicholas Larkin in London atnlarkin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:Claudia Carpenter atccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.