LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Gold remained vulnerable to
market plays on Friday, dropping $2.00 in half an hour's
trading, while palladium suffered from attempted metal sales
into its thin, end-of-year market.
Gold fixed weaker in the afternoon at $288.90 an ounce, down
on the morning's $289.25. Within 20 minutes of the 1500 GMT fix
the metal had dropped further to $287.25.
"There's been some good selling," said one senior bullion
dealer, who put it down to trading related to year-end options
and volatility position squaring.
The dealer said a variety of unusual options and volatility
positions had been timed to expire in the final days of 1997.
While he said gold's range remained $286-$289/$290, some
life remained ahead of the year-end.
"I think there's some potential for a rally during the next
few days," he added.
Palladium had earlier come under selling pressure at the
time of its 1400 GMT fix, which caused the white metal to be set
at $181.00 an ounce, its lowest fix since July 18 this year.
July marked the beginnings of palladium's climb out of a
price trough which had followed news of the first Russian metal
deliveries of the year to Japan.
That rally, which gained momentum as questions arose about
the quantity of metal Russia had delivered, peaked on August 5
at a session-high of $246.00, the year's record.
Friday's drop was exaggerated by thin trade and a lack of
buyers, one London dealer said.
"There was some quite aggressive selling on the fix, I would
guess it is the Russians fulfilling export quotas before the
year-end," he said.
"Nobody really wants to buy it now. It's not a time for the
specs (speculators) to go long or for the industrials to load
up," the dealer said, adding that the thin market had quickly
given in to the selling. It was last at $183.50/$185.50, down
$4.50 on the previous close.
Silver gave up some of its overnight gains during European
trade to sit at $6.03/$6.05 an ounce versus its previous London
close of $6.00/$6.02.
Dealers and technical analysts have all sung the song of
silver in recent weeks, pointing to supply tightness and heavy
borrowing as rally signposts.
Platinum sat more or less unmoved by activities elsewhere,
mooching at $355.00/$357.00, $2.00 off its previous close. |
