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

To: Alex who wrote (8142)	3/8/1998 7:34:00 AM
From: Abner Hosmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

Great link, Alex - Doesn't look like Munk and Wilson expect central bank selling to end with the onset of EMU, does it?

To: Alex who wrote (8142)	3/8/1998 11:07:00 AM
From: Ron Wilkinson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

Amusing, another gold buyer is not needed. Someone is already buying the gold the CB's are selling and all that is needed is to disclose who and what they paid. Do the big producers want to have disclosure on this transaction, NOT. Instead, the producers go through this elaborate charade acting as a victim when IMO this is just another step in their orchestrated plan to cartel the metal.

To: Alex who wrote (8142)	3/8/1998 4:26:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

China plans could be saviour of metals industry 08:20 p.m Mar 07, 1998 Eastern By Lynne O'Donnell SHANGHAI, March 8 (Reuters) - China's plans to spend $750 billion on infrastructure could be the saviour of the metals industry but traders and analysts said they wondered where the money would come from and how it could be spent in just three years. ''It is an incredible amount of money and I'm having difficulty thinking that it will actually come about,'' said an analyst with a London Metal Exchange (LME) broking firm. ''If it happens, it would certainly solve all of Asia's problems.'' Vice Premier Li Lanqing announced last month that China would invest $750 billion in infrastructure in the next three years to stimulate economic growth. Premier Li Peng told the current annual session of the National People's Congress, or parliament, China would aim for 1998 economic growth of eight percent, down from 8.8 percent in 1997. Chinese and Western economists said infrastructure was the key to China 's plan to reform struggling state companies by slashing the bloated workforce and creating new jobs to avoid the social unrest that could result from massive unemployment. The infrastructure investment plans were seen helping Beijing spend its way to stronger growth as domestic demand weakens and exports slow. Spending of that magnitude would mean massive consumption of base metals as China strove to build roads, railways, power stations, telecommunications and housing, analysts said. ''It is going to be extremely metals-intensive,'' said William Adams of metals broking firm Rudolf Wolff. ''The worry is that it is just so much, it is such a large amount to grapple with and there would have to be some very interesting consequences for metals,'' he said. The metals industry has been facing the prospect of rising inventories and oversupply as the problems of some Asian economies have led to drastically slowed consumption. China has been isolated from the Asian financial crisis largely because its currency is not fully convertible. But exports have shown signs of slowing as China's markets in the region shrink and competition from countries with vastly depreciated currencies makes Chinese goods look expensive. Rough calculations show that level of investment breaking down to $4.8 billion a week, or $686 million a day, for three years. The World Bank said in 1995 China would need 10 years to spend $750 billion, which represents about seven times current foreign exchange reserves. The possibility that foreign investment in infrastructure projects would be eased was almost a moot point, an Australian economist said, pointing to the more attractive investment environments elsewhere in Asia. ''There will be a dearth of foreign investment inflow over the next 18 months, or at least until people see where the (Chinese) currency is going to settle,'' said the Sydney-based source. Despite repeated assurances from the Chinese leadership that the yuan will not be devalued -- spelled out again by Premier Li in his report to parliament on Thursday -- foreigners would remain nervous about investing in China, he said. An industry executive in Singapore said plans to boost output of mines and smelters pointed to China's long-touted desire for self-sufficiency. ''But it will take a long time to achieve self-sufficiency, despite the great resources the country has, so in the meantime China will need to come to the world market for its needs,'' he said. -- Shanghai newsroom (8621) 6355-2001; fax 6355-5015 ^REUTERS@

To: Alex who wrote (8142)	3/10/1998 8:13:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 116764

From AOL c The Associated Press Platinum and palladium futures rose sharply Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid concern about continued delays in Russian shipments of the metal to Western suppliers. On other markets, sugar futures retreated, while wheat futures advanced. Russia is the world's largest supplier of palladium and the second-largest producer of platinum behind South Africa. But shipments to Japanese consumers, who use the metals in automobile and electronics production, have been halted since late last year amid repeated bureaucratic delays. While the Russian export agency, Almaz, is currently in negotiations with Japanese manufacturers to resume shipments and set a schedule, market participants are growing increasingly nervous that this year will be a reprise of the previous year, when supplies became critically tight before shipping resumed in July. The situation is being further complicated by long production delays from a new mine in Zimbabwe. That mine had been expected to produce 150,000 ounces of platinum a year, or 3 percent of the world's platinum supply, and 110,000 ounces of palladium, or about 2 percent of supply. Platinum for April delivery rose $5.80, or 1.5 percent, to $388.50 an ounce, while June palladium rose $6, or 2.5 percent, to $246.25 an ounce. Sugar futures neared the lowest level in four and a half years on the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in New York amid expectations that Brazil's expected record crop will add to already ample supplies. Advances in sugar prices have been stymied by greater production in many of the large producing countries, at a time when demand from Southeast Asia has fallen sharply. May sugar fell 0.11 cent, or 1.2 percent, to 9.39 cents a pound. Wheat futures rose sharply on the Chicago Board of Trade amid fears a late-season cold snap had damaged the nation's winter wheat crop. Investors feared that a winter storm that brought freezing temperatures to the nation's breadbasket would cause significant damage to crops that do not have significant ground cover to protect them from frost. While agronomists from many key winter wheat-growing states said major damage was unlikely, nervous market participants noted the government currently is predicting one of the smallest wheat production figures in several years. Any damage could lead to tight supplies toward the end of the year. Jim Herbek, extension grain crops specialist at the University of Kentucky, said at least half of that state's 750,000 acres of winter wheat were susceptible to damage from the frost. But agronomists in the major production states, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, say they believe damage there will be minimal and could even help by slowing maturation and leaving the crops less vulnerable to a spring frost. ''If anything, it's probably helped,'' said agronomist Brent Bean at Texas A&M. ''It will maybe help avoid injury later on from a freeze.'' May wheat rose 3 3/4 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $3.41 1/4 a bushel AP-NY-03-10-98 1715EST Transmitted: 03/10/98 17:25