Sunday, March 12, 2006
Gold Demand To Climb: Bloomberg
Bloomberg has a survey on gold demand. "Gold may rebound from the biggest weekly decline since 2004 as investors seek alternatives to stocks and bonds, a Bloomberg News survey shows. Thirteen of 32 traders, investors and analysts surveyed from Melbourne to New York on March 9 and March 10 advised buying gold, which fell 4.7 percent last week to $541.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Eight said to sell the metal and 11 were neutral."
"Commodity holdings by fund investors will double to $120 billion this year, Standard & Poor's estimates."
"Some analysts said gold will trade in a range as prices attempt to climb past $580 and test support at $540. 'A prudent investment posture might be to purchase a strangle, a put and call, with the view that gold prices could rise or fall $35 in the near term, or do both,' said Jeff Christian, managing director of CPM Group, a commodities researcher."
And from the Peninsula in Qatar. "Demand for 10 and 20-gram pure gold bars remains high in Doha despite increasing prices. Asian expatriates are large buyers of small bars while locals mostly prefer jewellery made from 18, 21 and 22-carat gold."
"Gold coins from one gram to 41.7 grams are available but in Qatar more popular are coins of two, four and eight grams. There are coins of 18, 36 and 40 grams as well. The difference between coins and bars is that while the former are made of 21 and 22-carat gold only, bars are of pure gold."
"The smaller a coin or a bar is the costlier it is due to making charges, according to Muzammel Hanif, vice-president of Al Fardan Exchange, which also sells bullion. For example, one kilogram of gold bar costs QR65,240 in the local market, but the price of a 10-gram bar is QR675."
"A 20-gram bar costs QR1,330, a little cheaper. The biggest bar is of 400 ounces or 12.5 kilograms but this is used mainly in trading between banks."
"Bars of 2.5, five, 50, an ounce (31.1035 grams), half ounce, and even 100 grams are available. Swiss bars are more popular, while British coins, known as George Sovereign, are more in vogue."
"Indians and Pakistanis buy small bars mostly for use in jewellery at home or to sell to make small profits due to the difference between the price here and at home, says Muzammel Hanif."
"Commodity holdings by fund investors will double to $120 billion this year, Standard & Poor's estimates."
"Some analysts said gold will trade in a range as prices attempt to climb past $580 and test support at $540. 'A prudent investment posture might be to purchase a strangle, a put and call, with the view that gold prices could rise or fall $35 in the near term, or do both,' said Jeff Christian, managing director of CPM Group, a commodities researcher."
And from the Peninsula in Qatar. "Demand for 10 and 20-gram pure gold bars remains high in Doha despite increasing prices. Asian expatriates are large buyers of small bars while locals mostly prefer jewellery made from 18, 21 and 22-carat gold."
"Gold coins from one gram to 41.7 grams are available but in Qatar more popular are coins of two, four and eight grams. There are coins of 18, 36 and 40 grams as well. The difference between coins and bars is that while the former are made of 21 and 22-carat gold only, bars are of pure gold."
"The smaller a coin or a bar is the costlier it is due to making charges, according to Muzammel Hanif, vice-president of Al Fardan Exchange, which also sells bullion. For example, one kilogram of gold bar costs QR65,240 in the local market, but the price of a 10-gram bar is QR675."
"A 20-gram bar costs QR1,330, a little cheaper. The biggest bar is of 400 ounces or 12.5 kilograms but this is used mainly in trading between banks."
"Bars of 2.5, five, 50, an ounce (31.1035 grams), half ounce, and even 100 grams are available. Swiss bars are more popular, while British coins, known as George Sovereign, are more in vogue."
"Indians and Pakistanis buy small bars mostly for use in jewellery at home or to sell to make small profits due to the difference between the price here and at home, says Muzammel Hanif."
# posted by Ben Jones @ 12:29 PM 
