Why Gold May Hit $2000 by Christmas

Gold Rises to 29-Week High on Stimulus by Central Banks
By Debarati Roy and Nicholas Larkin - Sep 19, 2012 10:59 PM GMT+0400



Gold futures rose to 29-week high on speculation that steps by central banks to bolster economic growth will spur demand for the metal as a store of value.

The Bank of Japan (8301) said today that it will add 10 trillion yen ($127 billion) to a fund that buys assets. On Sept. 13, the Federal Reserve announced a third round of U.S. monetary stimulus. This month, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave details on a plan to buy debt of member states, while China approved infrastructure spending.

“Gold likes the announcement out of Japan,” Frank Lesh, a trader at FuturePath Trading in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “People are concerned that this wave of global easing will stoke inflation.”

On the Comex in New York, gold futures for December delivery climbed 50 cents to settle at $1,771.70 an ounce at 1:45 p.m. Earlier, the price reached $1,781.80, the highest for a most-active contract since Feb. 29. The metal has gained 13 percent this year.

Silver futures for December delivery fell 0.4 percent to $34.588 an ounce.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for October delivery increased 0.3 percent to $1,640.40 an ounce.

Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a crowd near mines in South Africa owned by Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), the world’s largest producer.

Yesterday, some workers at Lonmin Plc (LMI)’s Marikana mine ended a six-week strike that left at least 45 people dead. Platinum prices jumped 22 percent from Aug. 10, the start of the strike, to Sept. 14.

Palladium futures for December delivery rose 0.9 percent to $673.05 an ounce on the Nymex.

To contact the reporters on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-19/gold-declines-as-rally-spurs-sales-platinum-extends-drop.html

Gold CEOs Predict New Highs Within One Year on Economy

By Liezel Hill - Sep 13, 2012 11:28 PM GMT+0400


Gold prices are poised to reach new highs in the next year amid global economic uncertainty and a lack of new supply, the biggest producers said.

Gold may exceed $2,000 an ounce within 12 months, Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Sokalsky and Chuck Jeannes, CEO of Goldcorp Inc. (G), said this week in interviews in Denver, where they were attending the Denver Gold Forum. A gold price of $2,000 is “not unreasonable,” Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) CEO Richard O’Brien said in a presentation at the conference.

“The fundamentals that are backstopping a higher gold price are there,” Sokalsky, who heads the world’s largest producer, said Sept. 10. “I’m optimistic that, with the uncertainty throughout the world and the macroeconomic environment and some of the fundamental supply and demand aspects of gold, that we could see new highs on the gold price.”

Gold has risen for 11 straight years, reaching a record $1,923.70 an ounce on Sept. 6, 2011 in New York, as investors bought the metal as a store of value and hedge against inflation.

Gold futures for December delivery climbed 2.2 percent to settle at $1,772.10 today on the Comex, the first time above $1,770 since February, after the Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing to boost the U.S. economy and reduce unemployment.

‘Debasement of Currencies’

“The demand side is all about worldwide debasement of currencies and gold being seen as an alternative,” Jeannes, head of the second-largest producer by market value, said Sept. 10. “We see it with central banks buying gold and we see it with investors buying gold to protect themselves from the exposure to currencies that they don’t have confidence in.”

Central banks will increase gold purchases by 7.9 percent to 493 metric tons this year as they keep expanding reserves to diversify from the dollar and guard against a potential gain in inflation, Thomson Reuters GFMS, a London-based researcher, said in a Sept. 4 report.

Gold prices have risen as investors buy the metal because of economic uncertainty and in anticipation of more stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve, as well as in Europe, said AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG)’s Mark Cutifani , CEO of the world’s third-largest gold producer.

‘Pretty Strong’

“Investment demand has been pretty strong,” he said in a Sept. 11 interview in Denver. “I could easily see it going through $1,800 by Christmas.”

It’s becoming more accepted that gold “has a role to play,” Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) CEO Sean Boyd said in a Sept. 11 interview.

“Not the gold standard, but as equivalent collateral to a treasury bond, as possibly collateral on maybe sovereign debt issuances, is starting to be discussed,” Boyd said. “That wouldn’t have happened five years ago.”

A lack of new supply will also support prices, Goldcorp’s Jeannes said. Producers including Barrick and Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp. (K) have said they will be more disciplined in spending on projects and will target higher returns rather than production growth.

Gold mine supply will probably be “flat and eventually declining,” Jeannes said. Companies that were trying to build large, low-return projects as a play on future gold price increases are not getting support from investors, he said.

“The market is not letting them do that, they are not giving them the money to do it,” Jeannes said. “So we are limited to high quality, high return projects that don’t require a higher gold price to succeed, and that’s limiting supply.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold & Silver Index (XAU), which is made up of 30 gold producers, has declined 15 percent in the past year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Liezel Hill in Toronto at lhill30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-13/gold-ceos-predict-new-highs-within-one-year-on-economy.html

Gold up on QE3 hope in the US, sets new record in India

While Bernanke did not explicitly say anything on further easing at Jackson Hole, the bullion market is expecting some more measures in the US Federal meeting on September 12-13

Dilip Kumar Jha / Mumbai Sep 02, 2012, 00:41 IST   Gold moved up by 1.74 per cent to set the new record on Saturday in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar following global sentiment where a bullish trend restored after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech in Jackson Hole raised hope for fresh aid to the US economy.

While Bernanke did not explicitly said anything on further easing, the bullion market is expecting some more measures in the US Federal meeting on September 12-13, which will be a crucial meeting ahead of US Presidential election in November.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/gold-upqe3-hope-inus-sets-new-record-in-india/485088/