(OroyFinanzas.com) – Gold was fairly quiet on Tocom today, trading within a narrow $683.50/685.75 range. During the European hours everybody seemed to have forgotten the ten dollar drop of yesterday, with fresh options-related buying by a US bank propelling the yellow metal higher.
The rally in PGM’s also supported the market. Platinum and palladium jumped to $1327 and 385 respectively on the second ETF announcement this week. ETF Securities will launch five new physically backed exchange-traded commodities to be listed on the London Stock Exchange April 24th and it will be physically allocated. A new series of exchange traded funds (ETFs) listed will be platinum, palladium, gold, silver and a basket of four weighted towards silver. The precious metal fixed at $687.60 on the first London fixing, up only 35 cents from the previous AM one and then continued its way on the upside. This one way street ended after prices hit $693.80 per ounce about an hour after the opening of the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The market could not hold on to all the gains and retreated slightly, but remained hovering above $690 for the rest of the NY trading session. We believe that as soon as the $680 level holds gold has an upside potential, supported by the US dollar at multi year lows, firm PGM’s and stable crude. In the coming week, on Wednesday the 25th, Iran’s top negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet for talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear activity. This will be their first meeting since the UN Security Council widened sanctions on Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium last month. The return to talks reflects a continued EU wish to find a compromise and avoid spiraling into confrontation with a major oil supplier. Some Western diplomats however believe that Iran is using talks only to stall for time to master complex enrichment technology. Washington also says that it is dedicated to a diplomatic solution, but does not rule out military action as a last resort. Next week the following US economic data will be awaited: consumer confidence and existing home sales on Tuesday, durable goods and new home sales on Wednesday, initial jobless claims on Thursday, and finally GDP index/prices on Friday.
Silver was calm in the Far East, trading in a narrow range above$13.70. During the European hours the white metal experienced an ongoing ascent which took the prices all the way up to $13.97 by the opening of the Comex session. Spot then gave away some of the intraday gains, but remained hovering firmly above the $13.90 level until the close. We believe that range trading will prevail for the short term with $14 providing the first resistance and $13.80 a support.
MKS Gold & Silver, Daily Report
By Lidia Nazarova
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