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

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (3416)	11/22/1997 4:51:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116814

Bobby in RE: to Wold demand for gold: Asian Gold-Physical demand high in HK, India 07:11 a.m. Nov 21, 1997 Eastern HONG KONG, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Physical demand for gold, which has set records worldwide this year, was strong in Hong Kong and India but continued to suffer from currency weakness in other parts of Asia, traders said on Friday. ''Demand is very good in Hong Kong. Traditionally this is one of the peaks of the year as we lead into Christmas, the wedding season and Chinese New Year,'' a senior trader said. But weak currencies in a number of Southeast Asian countries made gold, which is priced in dollars, more expensive and thus dampened demand. ''It's struggling in Singapore and Malaysia,'' a trader said. Thailand and Indonesia also showed a drop in demand. But gold's low price helped encourage demand, traders said. ''We're seeing strong demand from Hong Kong and Indian demand is growing,'' a senior bank bullion dealer in Singapore said. Gold's price has fallen about 17 percent since the start of this year. Spot gold was quoted at US$303.50/304.00 per ounce at 0430 GMT on Friday. The industry-funded World Gold Council (WGC) said on Wednesday that demand in the first nine months of 1997 reached a record 2,191 tonnes. The driving force for the sharp rise has been the Middle East/India region, where demand is ''up 30 percent over the third quarter to 344 tonnes,'' said George Milling-Stanley, WGC's gold market analysis manager. ''I think demand from the Chinese areas and India will continue to be good until the end of the year,'' a bank trader said. The strong demand has pushed up premiums in Singapore, a key distribution centre for gold. Singapore premiums were seen at about 45-65 U.S. cents an ounce over spot London prices, up from last week's 40-55 cents. Gold traders said they had not seen any immediate fallout outside South Korea from the drop in the won. South Korea's largest gold and silver producer, LG Metals, raised its daily gold selling price to its highest level this year at 11,570 won per gram on Thursday due to the won's sharp fall against the dollar. ''The problems of the won will probably not affect the physical market at the moment because the domestic market there is not an open market,'' one trader said. However, he said big refineries in South Korea, which were producing large amounts of kilobars, may scale back until the currency stabilises. Gold was likely to stay in a range of US$302 to US$305 an ounce for the near term, one trader said. ''It looks like there is some consistent buying below US$303,'' he said, adding that the market was speculating producers were buying back at that price. But another trader said he was bearish, noting that gold dipped to US$300 an ounce a week ago. ''I think there is every chance to try down there again. Gold has had a stable week in the sense that it did not push any lower than it did last Friday night, but you don't see anybody buying the stuff either,'' he said. Another trader said: ''I think the market has found a short-term bottom. We may see some shortcovering come in because of all the short positions in the market.'' But gold's longer-term prospects are seen as poor and its price will likely slide. ''It should test US$285 by the end of the year,'' a trader said. The Hong Kong premium over London spot gold prices was 70-80 U.S. cents an ounce, up from last week's 50-60 cents. Traders said the premium was pushed up by gold's low price and a temporary shortage of supply in Hong Kong. -- Rene Pastor, Singapore Newsroom (65) 870 3305; Fax (65) 776 8112 -- Kenneth Barry, Hong Kong newsroom (852) 2847 4034; Fax (852) 2845-0636 ^REUTERS@ Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.