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

To: PaulM who wrote (2817)	11/5/1997 6:20:00 AM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116818

Hello Paul Japan not a happy place, sooner or later someone over there will need gold.Sanyo's failure signals start of 2nd-tier shake-up ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tadashi Kawato Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Sanyo Securities Co.'s filing Monday for reorganization under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, a de facto declaration of bankruptcy, was a clear sign that the securities sector faces a life-and-death struggle to retain customers and regain public trust. After a series of bankruptcies of small and midsize banks followed by the failure of Nissan Mutual Life Insurance Co. in April, Sanyo Securities' failure means that the nation's banki ng and securities industry will have to undergo massive realignment to cope with the ongoing Big Bang financial reforms. Moreover, the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan also face the challenge of maintaining order in the industry. Sanyo Securities' failure marks the first time a full-service brokerage house, capitalized at over 3 billion yen and with a nationwide network of branches, has gone under since 1968, when licensing was introduced to counter a slump in the securities industry. After licensing began, it was believed that securities companies faced little risk of bankruptcy, as long as they were able to arrange financing from banks, because the firms could earn daily commissions from equities transactions. But this confidence has now been shattered. Stock prices have been lackluster since the burst of the bubble economy in 1990. Trading volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange has plummeted to less than half that reached at the peak of the bubble, hitting brokerage houses hard. This year in particular, individual investors have increasingly left the market, which has hurt the revenue of small and midsize securities companies, since they are more dependent on individual investors. The battle for survival had already begun before the Sanyo failure. In May, Osaka-based Ogawa Securities Co. decided to close business. This was followed by Yamakichi Securities Co.'s sale of its Tokyo Stock Exchange membership to a foreign brokerage. Next, Echigo Securities Co. in Niigata was forced to stop trading because of losses it sustained through embezzlement. Sanyo Securities' failure means that the cutthroat fight for market share has spread to the second-tier brokerages, marking a new phase in restructuring. Only four securities companies out of 14 major and second-tier firms marked recurring profit in midterm settlement in September.

To: PaulM who wrote (2817)	11/5/1997 7:13:00 AM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116818

Paul, The idea I am attempting to promote is that the Fed. should Buy gold! The amount I suggest is two billion dollars - a one for one match given to Indonesia. If you agree, please write your elected officials,Today! Richard

To: PaulM who wrote (2817)	11/5/1997 8:39:00 AM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116818

Hi Paul. Nice post............... Wednesday November 5 6:11 AM EST Gold price unlikely to fall below $300 -- analyst By Aya Takada TOKYO, Nov 5 ( Reuters ) - Gold prices are unlikely to break below the key psychological support level of $300 per ounce in the near future, as strong physical demand is likely to come to the rescue before that happens, a gold market analyst said on Wednesday. Since gold prices plunged to around $285 in 1985, strong physical demand has emerged to lift prices every time they were within touching distance of $300, George Milling-Stanley, an analyst at the World Gold Council, told Reuters. ''I'm not going to say that it cannot happen, but I think it's very unlikely to fall below $300,'' Milling-Stanley said. ''If it does, it won't stay there because physical demand is much stronger now than it was in 1985.'' Gold prices plummeted to a 12-year low of around $308 last month in reaction to a proposal by Swiss experts to sell 1,400 tonnes, or more than half of Switzerland's gold reserves. Gold is currently trading at around $314 dollars an ounce. Milling-Stanley said the gold market currently has much stronger underlying support from physical demand throughout the world than in 1985, except for a few countries in Southeast Asia, where demand has been depressed by a currency crisis and economic problems. On the other hand, gold mine production increased by only 1.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, and it showed no sign of improvement in the second half, he said. At current gold prices, more than half of the world's gold mines are making losses, and producers are postponing or cancelling mine expansion plans, he said. It would be a long time before a mining company decided to close down mines, but if prices were to stay at low levels, serious production cuts would begin to emerge, he said. ''If the price stays where it is, we will see lower production next year,'' he said. A supply-and-demand imbalance is continuing to grow, which has helped to lift gold prices, he said. Although the fundamentals of the gold market are healthy, speculative selling has kept gold prices under pressure, he said. Speculators are taking advantage of the market's fear of central bank gold sales to drive down the gold price and make huge profits, he said. Milling-Stanley said the proposal by the Swiss gold experts had so far received no support from the Swiss government, the Swiss National Bank or the Swiss finance ministry. He said there is support for a possible sale of 400 tonnes of gold from Switzerland's gold reserves, but added that even that plan must be subject to popular referendum. ''Switzerland may not sell any gold at all, but that was not understood clearly in the market,'' he said. He also said he could not envisage the Swiss proposal prompting any gold sales from other central banks. ''The last serious central bank sales was the one from Australia that unleashed strong criticism from ordinary Australian people. I think it will make any central bank think twice before taking similar decisions in the future,'' he said Milling-Stanley also said that gold still had a role as a safe haven in times of financial-market turmoil. When stock prices fell sharply last month In Hong Kong, gold demand soared there, he said. But in the United States, gold demand did not rise significantly when the New York stock market plunged last month, because it was only a minor correction, he said. ''I think that if we get serious significant corrections in the financial markets, then gold will still be seen to have a role as a safe haven,'' he said. - Tokyo Commodities Desk ( 813 ) 3432-7431