Looks like Kitco has bit the biscuit today, totally unreliable now. Im posting this from Kaplans Site. Another big producer, Ashanti, has closed out a big forward position. No-one seems to be watching, but the little plusses are starting to pile up.
Also, Kaplan points to the pit trading game, where the pros like to hit and take out the stops, but there are few stops there. I imagine thats why we are at extremely open interest in AU, very few specs in the game right now. (I regard that market as just a gambling game anyway.)
KAPLAN:
In the gold market, traders attempted to hit sell stops below $290 in the active February contract, but with so few speculator long positions remaining, there was no triggering effect. Crude oil prices were unusually volatile, as is typical of a market near a major bottom. The XAU, an index of major gold mining shares, touched its lowest point since September 9, 1998. The bond market retreated, with the yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury again remaining stubbornly above 5%. Stocks and the dollar generally gained, though both finished off their daily highs as many indices set new intraday records (though not, of course, the Russell 2000, which remains below its BOTTOM of late 1997). Put-call ratios and the VIX remain unusually low, while the advance-decline line remains pathetic (there were actually more stocks down than up on the Nasdaq), pointing to a sharp correction in the near future.
Being generally bullish on the outlook for the price of gold, Ashanti Goldfields (ASL) announced Monday that it had closed out 732,000 ounces of forward sales and put option contracts entered into in 1997, realizing a profit of $56.1 million in U.S. dollars.
The one-month lease rate for gold has risen to about 1.7%. |
