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To: TobagoJack who wrote (56201)	11/20/2004 9:00:55 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay. BIG lumps of gold going under the hammer in a tough love programme: news.ft.com <...The proposed sale equates to almost 20 per cent of the 3,025 tonnes held by the central bank, the fourth largest holder of gold after the US, Germany and the International Monetary Fund. The decision comes seven months after France first indicated it might sell part of its gold reserves, some of which was accumulated during the Napoleonic era, and coincides with bullion hitting a 16-year high yesterday. Of all the leading nations, France, which last sold gold in 1968, has long been seen as the most reluctant seller of bullion. The confirmation by the French central bank fills a significant part of the Central Bank Gold Agreement, which was renewed at the end of September for another five-year term by 15 central banks which agreed to sell collectively up to 500 tonnes a year under the new accord. Germany plans to sell up to 600 tonnes in coming years and the Netherlands plans to dispose of 165 tonnes. Switzerland said it would sell 130 tonnes, reducing its bullion holdings from 2,600 tonnes in 1996 to about 1,300 tonnes. This leaves another 1,000 tonnes that has still to be confirmed for sale under the agreement. Italy is the only signatory with significant gold reserves that has yet to confirm any sale plans. ... continued...> Location, location, location. Everyone is trying to position themselves for where they imagine the world's financial system is going, which might or might not be to hell in a hand-basket. It does seem really dopey to spend a fortune digging up gold to store it since Napoleon's day doing nothing but cost sentry time. Perhaps the labour at the time was really cheap and for almost no cost, they could hire otherwise unoccupied young men to dig the gold up and hand it over to the bosses. The cost price of the gold might have been very low. Now, with gold costing $250 an ounce to dig and the price at $440 an ounce, it's not surprising that a few sales are in the offing. Digging gold at $250 an ounce and stacking it in an underground vault doesn't seem such a good idea these days. But plenty of people are doing it. You'll be able to buy a few hundred tons of the stuff from the French [and others]. Mqurice PS: While we wait to see where the financial system is going, I'm enjoying the pay rate Uncle Al KBE has given me for my US$. Now up from 0.94% to 2%. I can get TWO hamburgers now! Which isn't quite satisfactory for the amount of effort I put in to earn that money, so I expect further pay increases. I'd like to get up to a Happy Meal pay rate. It has been a bleak three years for those US$ in NZ$ terms and even more so in NZ property price terms [now more than halved in value - so my US$ are a longggggg way under water and the rebound is longgggg overdue].