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

To: d:oug who wrote (63471)	2/6/2001 11:59:31 PM
From: paul ross	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116753

Gold skidded to a contract low in New York futures trade Tuesday, and hit a 16-month spot low in London, on fund sales triggered by a weak euro and new of recent hedging by two major South African mining companies. "There was some trade selling early this morning. I think the funds jumped in as well with some fresh positions looking for some stops on the downside," said analyst Marshall Steeves of Refco Inc. Futures players were focusing on the euro,which was quoted midafternoon at $0.9292/94, down from $0.9383/87 at Monday's close. A weaker euro makes dollar-denominated bullion less affordable to European consumers. In other bearish developments Tuesday, AngloGold Ltd., the world's largest gold producer, said it would hedge 50 percent of its production over the next five years. While this was not a change in the company's price protection policy last year, the news came at a vulnerable time for gold and incidentally almost exactly a year after several big mining companies pledged to try to help the market by selling less to lock in prices for future production. Meanwhile, Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd said it purchased one million ounces of put options as part of a financing agreement for additional mine purchases. Harmony has been an avowed non-hedger. "The reaction is surprising because the sales have apparently already occurred," said Charles Perrignon, division director at Macquarie Inc. "It's a classic reaction, like when the central banks announced gold sales that have already occurred. The reaction was always negative, despite the fact that the sales have already been absorbed into the market," he said. (Reuters 06:03 PM ET 02/06/2001)