Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Volatility (VIX) - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Investor Sentiment - 25th Mar 24
The Federal Reserve Didn't Do Anything But It Had Plenty to Say - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Breadth - 24th Mar 24
Stock Market Margin Debt Indicator - 24th Mar 24
It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - 24th Mar 24
Stocks: What to Make of All This Insider Selling- 24th Mar 24
Money Supply Continues To Fall, Economy Worsens – Investors Don’t Care - 24th Mar 24
Get an Edge in the Crypto Market with Order Flow - 24th Mar 24
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Silver Shortage Blamed on "Miner Hedging" as Price Rises with Gold, Global Inflation Data Eyed

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2011 Feb 14, 2011 - 08:53 AM GMT

By: Adrian_Ash

Commodities

THE PRICE OF gold and silver rose back to last week's highs early in London on Monday, hitting $1364 and $30 per ounce respectively even as the US Dollar rose to 1-month highs on the currency market.

European stock markets slipped but government bonds and commodity prices were little changed after China reported a further rise in its imports, led by a 5.7% rise in copper demand.


"Physical market is still absent," said one Hong Kong gold dealer in a note, citing a "lukewarm" premium and low trading volumes in Asia's bullion markets despite the return of Chinese traders after the Lunar New Year.

"There is plenty of data out this week," says Standard Bank today, "but of particular importance to precious metals will be the inflation numbers" due from China, the US and the UK.

"[China's recent] increase in interest rates is too little too late given the surge in inflation," reckons Peking finance professor and Sheyin Wanguo Securities chief strategist Michael Pettis.

"Real estate prices have been on an upward tear, while everything in China that might be considered collectible and capable of holding value – gold, jewelry, premium tea, premium liqueurs, stamps, calligraphy, art, antiques, jade, and so on – has surged in price, in almost every case to record highs."

Monday saw Japan's full-year 2010 economic data confirm its fall to third place – in Dollar terms – behind China and the US.

With Japanese society as a whole growing ever older, says a report from Goldman Sachs, the national savings rate could fall from 5% of income in 2009 to possibly negative levels as early as next year.

Copper, zinc and aluminum futures will start trading on the Singapore Exchange from Tuesday, under a deal with the London Metal Exchange.

World No.1 aluminum producer United Co. Rusal believes that a physically-backed exchange-traded trust for investors to track the metal's price will be launched within "weeks" according to its deputy CEO Oleg Mukhamedshin.

"Since the start of the year, [silver investment in US futures] has dropped...6% while the ETF position has dropped 3.9%," says the latest Metal Matters from bullion bank Scotia Mocatta, "[which] might just reflect some repositioning by investors as they adjust their portfolios."

Noting "strong buying" from coin investors and product-fabricators, however, Scotia attributes the current "backwardation" in silver prices – where future deliveries, unusually, are now cheaper than immediate supply – to "a combination of commercial bank borrowing and by [mining] producer-related forward hedging business."

Five un-named silver mining companies apparently sold forward a large chunk of their future production to "lock in" current prices, the Financial Times reported last week.

Needing to borrow physical silver bullion, these miners have helped create the recent supply shortages, suggests Scotia, in London – heart of the world's wholesale precious metals market.

Silver imports to China rose four-fold in 2010, according to official data. The recent Lunar New Years celebrations also saw heavy shipping of metal to the Far East, according to senior logistics executives in Europe.

By Adrian Ash
BullionVault.com

Gold price chart, no delay   |   Buy gold online at live prices

Formerly City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London and a regular contributor to MoneyWeek magazine, Adrian Ash is the editor of Gold News and head of research at www.BullionVault.com , giving you direct access to investment gold, vaulted in Zurich , on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.

(c) BullionVault 2011

Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.


© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in