Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Michael Collings who wrote (70237)	5/24/2001 3:02:21 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116862

Thursday May 24, 2:31 pm Eastern Time Gold shakeout on Russia sales news seen an overreaction By Alden Bentley NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - News of possible Russian gold sales sent tremors through bullion markets Thursday, but North American traders and analysts said fears of a new round of central bank sales were overblown, predicting some bulls would hang tough. ADVERTISEMENT On the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, profit taking knocked gold futures some $12 off morning highs after President Vladimir Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as opening the door for Russian gold and gem sales to help victims in flood-hit eastern Siberia. ``It was definitely an excuse for funds to start getting a little bit out of their longs,'' said a New York bullion dealer. "I don't know if there's any validity to it because it's going to take a while for this actually to go through. ``I assume Russia is going to be slow as with anything else they try to do. So I see it going to bounce from down here.'' In the morning, June gold was up more than $4 before the story from RIA Novosti sent the active contract skidding to $276. At 1:39 p.m. (1349 EDT) Thursday it was at $279.80, down $4.20. Before it steadied, Thursday's shakeout put gold at its lowest since Friday, when funds were jumping into futures, lighting a fire under a subdued rally and catapulting the contract to a 10-month high at $298.60. ``I think it was being misinterpreted,'' said analyst Cristina Mingorance at futures trading house Refco Inc. ``People were going ballistic, saying 'Russia is going to sell gold to ease liquidity to the market' and 'they are under pressure from the dealers.' But it shot down and then came back up again.'' Gold has only just found its legs in recent months after struggling near the 20-year price lows of 1999 all spring. It remains extremely skittish about central banks, having digested gold sales from the likes of Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria and Canada in recent years. Only two week's ago the futures market was still oversold.But the wild technical buying of recent days, much of it triggered by computers as prices broke above long-standing chart targets, loaded funds with their first net long position since last summer. Putin said he would sign a decree ``if a clear scheme is presented to me, intended to help people now on the streets.'' George Parrill, vice president at ScotiaMocatta in Toronto, said that was a big ``if'', explaining the market reaction as knee-jerk liquidation of weak longs. Russia is the 15th largest holder of gold, according to the World Gold Council. There was no timetable given and no indication of how much of Russia's 389 tonnes could be sold. ``It's not a done deal,'' Parrill said of the Russian news. ``It could be back at $285 again tomorrow. That's the kind of market we have.'' biz.yahoo.com

To: Michael Collings who wrote (70237)	5/24/2001 3:09:03 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116862

Can't get money from the US proper, get it from the shorts? Poor stupid bastard, little does he know, he's played right into the hands of those profiting from their low commodity price. Didn't he know the shorts were in trouble & Russia could have earned more from sales of gold in 3 months at a broken free price than the meager stipend paid by the shorts? Was the IMF behind it - we know they are corrupt? Tuesday May 22 11:33 AM ET Putin Says German-U.S. Snub Report 'Provocation' By Peter Graff MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) said Tuesday that reports Germany and the United States had agreed to withhold financial aid from Moscow were a ``provocation'' aimed at wrecking Moscow's ties with Europe. He was reacting to the publication in Germany of what was described as a leaked diplomatic cable containing minutes of confidential talks between German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Bush (news - web sites). According to the reports, widely quoted in the German press last week, Bush and Schroeder spoke skeptically about Putin and agreed to deny Moscow financial aid because of capital flight, which the Russian leader himself said was $20 billion last year. ``It is not official information, and I have no reason to believe it,'' Putin told a news conference after meeting visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. ``As for the publication itself, this is a provocation aimed at destroying the positive trend in relations between Russia and the EU and between Russia and certain members of the EU.'' Putin said Russia and Western lenders all shared the common goal of nursing Russia's economy to health so it could pay its debts to countries in the Paris Club of creditors. ``This is an objective situation and all members of the Paris Club are interested in that,'' he said. Russia is seeking Western support for a rescheduling of its Paris Club debt. Germany, its largest creditor, has so far resisted repeated calls for debt relief. CAPITAL FLIGHT BLIGHT Capital flight has blighted the Russian economy since the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin said in a state of the nation address in April that he wanted to fight it as part of his efforts to put the economy on a more stable footing. The government has already taken steps to cut tax rates and simplify tax rules, seen as one way to convince Russian businessmen to keep their cash at home rather than send it abroad to avoid high levies and masses of red tape. Gennady Seleznyov, speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, said the harsh view of Russia expressed in the leaked transcript did not match Schroeder's public words. ``When Chancellor Schroeder was here, he said something quite different: that Germany is interested in Russia working actively with the European Union (news - web sites),'' Seleznyov said in televised remarks during a visit to Belarus. ``Politics are always a clever thing: you never know what is the truth and what is baloney. But I think if we just wait a little longer, light will pour in,'' he said. ``VAST SUMS SPIRITED ABROAD'' The leaked cable has made headlines, both for the conversations it contained and for the apparent security breach it represented. Russia was only one of several topics Bush and Schroeder were reported to have discussed. Washington and Berlin have so far declined to comment. ``The chancellor agreed with Bush that there can be no new financial aid as long as vast sums are being spirited abroad,'' German weekly Focus quoted the cable as saying. It quoted Schroeder as saying it was ``an open question whether (Putin) can assert himself against the elites shaped during the Soviet era.'' Bush was also quoted as criticizing Putin's position on press freedom and weapons sales to Iran. The West pumped billions of dollars into Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Critics have said much of the aid was wasted as it did not promote reforms, but fell into the hands of corrupt officials and wealthy, influential businessmen. They in turn swiftly sent the funds to safe haven Swiss and other offshore bank accounts. Honest businessmen also tend to send as much of their hard currency abroad as possible, analysts say, citing worries over the domestic economic situation, an inefficient banking system and a lack of investment possibilities. Putin's government has so far not asked for any money from the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites), but faces an increasingly heavy repayments schedule on more than $140 billion of foreign debt. dailynews.yahoo.com