To: Enigma who wrote (2375 ) 4/10/2002 4:33:31 PM From: nickel61 Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 3558 NY gold resuscitated by AngloGold hedge reductions 04/10/02 12:20 PM Source: Reuters URL: investor.cnet.com NEW YORK, April 10 (Reuters) - COMEX gold jumped on Wednesday, recovering from early profit taking after top-tier South African producer AngloGold Ltd. said it was "aggressively" running down its hedge book. Though the company gave no details, saying only that it was taking advantage of market conditions, June gold accelerated a mild morning bounce back above the $300 an ounce level around which it has consolidated recent gains all week. ------------snip------------ The trend toward reduced selling by gold companies has been bullish for gold this year. The tone was set by U.S.-based Newmont Mining, after it bought Australia's Normandy Mining, became the world's largest producer, and pledged to unwind Normandy's large hedge book and avoid all hedging. Producers hedge by selling their output forward to lock in prices and protect themselves against falls in the market. But it can work against their interests because heavy hedging activity can prevent the price of gold from rising. "We haven't changed our hedging policy per se, but market conditions at the moment dictate that we are running down our hedge book and we have been for a little while," AngloGold Financial Director Jonathan Best told Reuters. AngloGold closed 1.7 million ounces in its hedge book in the last quarter of 2001, leaving it with a hedge book of 14.6 million ounces. Best said the company was reducing its book because it was more bullish on the gold price and because U.S. interest rates are low, raising the cost of carrying short gold positions.