GOLD PRICES fell in London on Friday, nearing a 0.7% loss for the week in Dollars and falling harder against the Euro as China’s stock market extended its bounce from July’s earlier plunge, and European shares rose on optimism a Greek bail-out deal can be struck at the weekend’s key summits.
Falling to €1035 per ounce as the single currency rose on the FX market, the gold price in Euros broke below its tight €20 range of the last 6 weeks.
Dollar gold prices meantime recorded their 3rd lowest weekly close of the last 5 years at the benchmark London auction, fixing at $1162.40.
“Euro gold under pressure given the optimism over a deal,” notes the trading desk at ICBC Standard Bank in London.
“If the Greek proposals were to be rejected,” reckons a note from commodity analysts at Germany’s Commerzbank, “short-term turmoil on the financial markets and a rising gold price would be likely at the beginning of [next] week.”
But “whether any of the present instability in China or Europe could or should support gold prices,” says Mitsui Global Precious Metals, “remains a moot point.”
Looking at the key Asian markets, Mitsui adds that “physical demand is somewhat brisker than the premiums might suggest, but existing stockpiles in the Far East continue to feed demand with ease.”
Typically priced at a premium to London wholesale bullion quotes, gold in India – the world’s largest consumer nation until overtaken by China in 2013 – widened to the equivalent of an $8 discount per ounce on Friday according to local traders.
Shanghai gold premiums meantime recovered to 75 cents per ounce on China’s main domestic contract, but were wildly volatile for both 100-gram and kilobar contracts on the city’s international gold market.
Briefly overtaking the main domestic contract’s trading volume in April, the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s international kilobar contract today saw the lowest turnover since Tuesday recorded the first zero-day since it launched last September.
The SGE today launched its new “Shanghai-Hong Kong Link“, enabling trading in the offshore city state to trade directly onto China’s only legally-approved bullion market, cutting their set-up costs.
“The Chinese would rather buy cheap blue chips in the stock market,” Reuters earlier quoted Dick Poon at German refiner Heraeus’ Hong Kong office, looking at the second 5% equity bounce in two days.
“I don’t think they have any intention to buy gold for the time being.”
