Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Gold Nears $1180 Mark On Waning Support For Swiss Referendum

Gold dropped heavily today as a correction from its two week highs continued. The metalis easing on ideas that support for Swiss referendum to require the country’s centralbank to hold 20% of its reserves in gold bullions is waning. Gold fell towards $1130 perounce at the start of the month, testing its lowest level in four and half years amidpersistent dollar strength and demand worries for the yellow metal. The metal currentlytrades at $1183.90 per ounce, down $10 per ounce on the day. MCX Gold futures are tradingat Rs 26493 per 10 grams, down Rs 218 per 10 grams or 0.82% on the day.
However, weak undertone in Indian rupee could offer some support for the local futures.The Indian rupee edged lower at commencement tracking losses in the Asian currenciesmarket. The domestic currency trades at 62.12 per US dollar, its weakest mark in eightmonths. The US dollar is holding just above 1.2500 mark against the Euro in globalmarkets- off its four year high but still in a formidable position.
The minutes of the US Federal Reserve's last policy meeting released Wednesday showedthat the Fed decided not to alter its wording on the timing of any interest rateincreases. Fed officials worried that a change could be misinterpreted by financialmarkets. Most economists predict that the Fed won't raise rates before June. The US stocksedged up a bit after the minutes. In last week of October, the Fed voted to end its assetpurchase program, by a 9-1 vote, and repeated that rates are likely to stay near zero for“a considerable time,” adding further that the first move to raise rates couldcome sooner if the economy is stronger than expected.
Meanwhile, India’s gold imports jumped in last month amid falling prices andexcellent demand ahead of the peak festive season. Gold imports rose 280% to $4.17 billionfrom $1.09 billion in the year-ago period. However, India’s merchandise exportscontracted in October, the first time this fiscal year exerting pressure on thecountry’s trade deficit. The trade deficit widened to $13.3 billion in October from$10.6 billion a year ago, according to data released by the commerce ministry on Monday.During the month, merchandise exports contracted 5% to $26 billion. Imports grew 3.6% to$39 billion, with the growth moderation mainly on account of lower petroleum imports.
Global Gold demand totalled 929 tonnes in the third quarter this year, which proved tobe a generally subdued quarter for the gold market, according to the World Gold Council'sGold Demand Trends. This was the lowest level for gold demand in nearly five years. Demandfell by around 2% compared to third quarter of last year. Jewellery demand softened by 4%year-on-year, but the comparison continues to be heavily influenced by the events in 2013.
The metal witnessed a solid jump on 14th November as short covering pushed up theprices ahead of weekend. COMEX Gold futures soared sharply, adding more than 2% in asingle session to close at $1185 per ounce. The Swiss National Bank could be forced to buynearly $60 billion of gold at current spot prices after the first poll on the impendingSwiss referendum shows a ‘yes' vote. On November 30, voters in Switzerland willdecide whether or not to outlaw further gold sales from the Swiss National Bank, to makephysical bullion at least 20 percent of the bank's assets and whether to repatriateSwiss-owned gold.

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