Two articles below about Gold, one giving the China stuff, but another talking about Swiss central bank selling, and don't forget the IMF and Bank of England are still likely to sell some in some way.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19990907/news/current/futures.htx?source=blq/yhoo&dist=yhoo
Gold futures glitter
Gold futures rose after an official from China's gold bureau told Bridge News that his country's gold reserves were too low in relation to its population of 1.3 billion, according to a daily report from Alaron.com.
Currently, the metal accounts for only 2.3 percent of China's total reserves. China's gold reserves could rise to at least 1,000 tons from only 394 tons. "This has significant bullish potential as Asia is the entity that could turn this gold market around very quickly," said Dave Meger, senior metals analyst at Alaron.com.
On the Commodities Exchange division of the New York Mercantile Exchange December gold rose $1.80 to $257.30 an ounce and September silver rose 5.2 cents to $5.174 an ounce.
Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Stocks Index rose 2.2 percent to 67.23.
Late Friday, the Commodities Exchange said gold warehouse stocks fell 45,478 ounces to 1,080,229 ounces, while silver sticks rose 976,700 ounces to 81,103,111 ounces.
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Central banker: Swiss gold sale will go ahead
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ZURICH, Switzerland, Sep 08, 1999 (AP Worldstream via COMTEX) -- Switzerland will go ahead with its plan to sell off surplus gold in spite of fears that sales could hurt poor countries that produce the metal, the vice president of the Swiss National Bank said in an interview published Wednesday.
The government plans to use 1,300 tons of gold -- half of the central bank"s 2,600 tons of reserves -- to underpin the Swiss franc, and has designated the other half as surplus.
""Producers such as South Africa would of course prefer that we rescind our program,"" Jean-Pierre Roth was quoted as saying in an interview in the newspaper HandelsZeitung.
But the sale is sensible, he insisted, noting that the central bank has taken into account the potential effect on the market and has always emphasized it would sell only a little at a time over a period of years.
""It"s not in our interest for the price to fall into the basement,"" Roth said.
In April, Swiss voters approved a new-look constitution which ended the traditional requirement for the Swiss franc to be backed by gold.
Britain and the International Monetary Fund also are moving to sell off part of their gold reserves.
Copyright 1999 Associated Press, All rights reserved. |
