In The Days

• Source: Financial Times
• News Date: 10/7/09
• Author: Javier Blas in London

Gold prices continued to surge on Wednesday, hitting a fresh record close to $1,050 a troy ounce as investors bet that trading momentum would push the precious metal still higher.

Perplexity

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue scripture words.

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Root of All Evil

“For the love of money is the root •Strongs 4491: rhiza, hrid´-zah; apparently a primary word; a “root” (literally or figuratively):—root of all.of all evil•Strongs 2556: kakos, kak-os´; apparently a primary word; worthless (intrinsically, such; whereas 4190 properly refers to effects), i.e. (subjectively) depraved, or (objectively) injurious:—bad, evil, harm, ill, noisome, wicked. which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows•Strongs 3601: odune, od-oo´-nay; from 1416; grief (as dejecting): — sorrow..”
—1 Timothy 6:10

Barclays Capital said gold prices, which have risen 10.3 per cent since the end of August, could run to as high as $1,500 an ounce if previous technical trading patterns were extrapolated.

“We believe gold has a significant upside potential into 2010,” the bank said, adding current prices “were off the charts”. In spite of a 40 per cent rally in gold prices since Lehman Brothers collapsed a year ago, few traders appeared to be taking profits or betting on a price fall.

“The selling is not materialising,” said James Steel, a precious metal analyst at HSBC in New York, echoing a view held by other analysts and traders.

Jon Spall, gold specialist at Barclays Capital in London, added: “No one is saying ‘this is enough, let’s sell’.”

The reluctance to sell is in spite of mounting worries about a sharp drop in jewellery demand in India – the world’s largest buyer of gold – Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Italy.

Jim Rogers, the Singapore-based investor who has been one of the biggest bulls during this decade’s commodities rally, said that he would refrain from buying gold at a record high, but added that he was not betting against a drop in prices.

He told Reuters: “I cannot say what will happen to gold tomorrow. But if you ask me whether gold will go up in the long term… would say yes.”

In London, spot gold hit an intraday high of $1,048.20 per ounce on Wednesday, up 0.7 per cent from New York’s last quote on Tuesday, in spite of the US dollar strengthening against the euro and a basket of currencies.

Gold prices rose sharply in euro and sterling terms, suggesting that investors were buying the metal as a hedge not only against the weakness of the US dollar, but also to guard against further financial stress.

However, Ashraf Laidi, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, said that while gold has hit a fresh record in US dollar terms, it remains more than 30 per cent below its highs in Australian dollar terms, 15 per cent lower in yen terms and 6 per cent lower in sterling terms.

Mr Steel said that gold buying was more widespread than in the past, with “institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, joining the traditional gold players such as macro hedge funds and bullion banks”.