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Strategies & Market Trends : ahhaha's ahs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GraceZ who wrote (3199)	10/18/2001 3:34:29 PM
From: GraceZ	Respond to of 24758

Thursday October 18, 3:17 pm Eastern Time NY gold falls to lowest since Sept 11 attacks By Alden Bentley biz.yahoo.com NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - COMEX gold futures skidded to their lowest since the September 11 attacks on America, as disappointed bulls threw in the towel despite remaining jitters about bioterrorism and the U.S. retaliation in Afghanistan. December gold <0#GC:> fell to $279.20 and settled down $4.20 at $279.80 an ounce. Speculators sold back previous safe-haven purchases, fearing greater losses on the break back below the $280 support level. ``It's just further liquidation pressure due to the fact that the rally attempts just didn't have much momentum, regardless of current news -- whether it's anthrax or military attacks on Afghanistan, even the potential for escalation in the Middle East,'' said David Rinehimer, head of commodities research at Salomon Smith Barney. On Sept 14, the benchmark futures contract spiked briefly to $300 an ounce in the first business after hijackers used commercial airliners to destroy the World Trade Center and Pentagon, leaving more than 5,000 dead or presumed dead. But then gold stalled in the low $290s. Gold Fields Mineral Services said on Thursday that the assaults on New York and Virginia were no reason to alter the consultancy's forecast for a price range of $265-$285 an ounce for bullion this year. ``It's important to recognize that short, sharp shocks to the system are unsustainable,'' GFMS director Paul Walker told the Nikkei Gold Conference in Tokyo, adding that the upward spike in gold prices invariably dried up demand in key markets such as India, the world's largest consumer of gold. On Thursday, the benchmark futures contract eked out a small gain as stock markets fell on worries about the use of deadly germs on Americans. But support for gold was short-lived, despite the unprecedented closing of the U.S. Capitol after anthrax was found in the office of Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. ``It's the terrorist concern premium evaporating,'' said a source at a large commodity brokerage. ``Earlier on, we saw some trade selling and then fund selling, mostly some sell stops. It's just the continuing meltdown since it started backpedaling from the Sept 11 thing a couple of days ago.'' The anxiety was heightened early Thursday after a CBS News employee tested positive for the least-deadly skin form of the anthrax bacteria, following recent diagnoses at rival news networks as well as at the offices of a Florida tabloid, where the only anthrax death occurred. Stock markets had clawed back most of their losses since the calamity in Manhattan's downtown financial district, helping take the shine off gold, which traditionally has been seen as an asset that holds value in times of uncertainty. The Dow Jones industrial stock average was down 50 points in midafternoon trade Thursday. The Nasdaq was up 6.35. ``Gold's got to be a disappointment to anybody who bought it. The market is still long, despite some of the lightening up last week,'' said a bullion dealer. Silver continued to track gold, but was falling faster because of concerns about recession and silver's vulnerability as an industrial metal. December futures <0#SI:> tumbled 10.7 cents to $4.263 an ounce, trading from $4.385 to $4.24. Spot silver fetched $4.25/27, down from the close at $4.35/37 and the fix at $4.345 an ounce. NYMEX December palladium <0#PA:> shed $5.40 to end at $327.60 an ounce. Spot palladium was last at $320/330. January 2002 platinum <0#PL:> fell $7.60 to $417.30 an ounce. Spot platinum changed hands at $429/436.