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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Barracuda™ who wrote (43828)	10/25/1999 5:52:00 PM
From: The Barracuda™	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 117047

Jon Kaplan also says: Date: Mon Oct 25 1999 17:36 uptick (copy of just the comments on my daily newsletter) ID#277249: Copyright ¸ 1999 uptick/Kitco Inc. All rights reserved The precious metals were mixed in quiet conditions today with gold and platinum lower while silver and palladium were just a touch higher. The gold market was the only ?mover? of note, down about $3 on the day to close under the psychologically important level of $300 per ounce. While the $300 level is somewhat important, the major support is $295 to $296 and the bulls would be most discouraged on a close beneath those levels. Lease rates in gold continue to fall, with the London nominal rate at 1.41% at present. Silver lease rates are rising quickly lending significant support to the marketplace. We continue to see a very strong correlation between lease rates and the price of the precious metals. The market continues to wait for the announcement, perhaps coming later today, about Ashanti and the state of their hedge book losses and potential margin calls. The company?s treasurer said that the firm will likely be granted another extension to their ?standstill? agreement. He also said that margin calls wont be made and that a solution is on the horizon. Talks are being held in London on Ashanti?s position and the Bank of England is involved with Goldman Sachs, who is acting as advisor to Lonmin, Ashanti?s potential buyer and major shareholder. One analyst from a French bank said he expected an extension in the standstill agreements, but not a long one. He warned ?the moment to stop talking must come soon?. In a late breaking development, it is thought that both Barrick Gold and Anglogold have made competing bids for a gold property owned by Ashanti in Tanzania. Speaking of the Bank of England, they declined to comment on reports by a London newspaper that it intervened on behalf of gold producers threatened by losses after the recent gold price rise. Supposedly, the Bank asked several banks to give mining companies extra time to repay debts. The Bank did state, ?It is frequently the case in major city episodes that the parties like to discuss the situation with us and the Bank is always happy to talk to them?. As expected, the Russian government will extend the 5% export tariff on all precious metals indefinitely but is considering scrapping the tax of gold as no gold has been exported since the inception of this tax. This tax is fairly ludicrous as now smuggling will become the modus operandi of the mining industry. Gold demand in Japan is skyrocketing as imports jumped 247% year on year in September to an estimate of 19.4 tons. Please remember that most of this occurred in an environment of low gold prices along with an appreciation of the yen against the dollar so this number should come down sharply in months to come.