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

To: Alex who wrote (11028)	4/30/1998 5:43:00 PM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116762

Jun gold ends down $3.70 04/30/98 16:29 ET <Picture> <Picture>ÿÿÿÿNew York--Apr 30--COMEX Jun gold made a sudden plunge near the end of the session, to settle down $3.70 at $307.90 per ounce after hitting a 1- month low of $306.50. Gold fell back on fund selling after a number of sell-stops were triggered, traders said, noting that the move was primarily technical, encouraged by gold's inability to build on last week's gains. Gold's late slide abruptly quashed Jly silver's attempt to rally. After jumping to a 6-day high of $6.34 per ounce, Jly silver settled down 1c at $6.23. ÿÿÿÿThe drop in gold prices was in line with losses across most of the commodities sector, noted Bill O'Neill, senior futures strategist at Merrill Lynch. ÿÿÿÿ"The whole commodities board is showing the inability to hold rallies," he said, noting that this morning's economic numbers were signaling a low inflation atmosphere. ÿÿÿÿSome traders suggested that a lower inflation atmosphere is more bearish for gold, which is traditionally regarded as an inflation hedge. However, one trader noted that the numbers were calming fears the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates at its next committee meeting. ÿÿÿÿ"The fact that inflation is not a threat and therefore interest rates are not likely to be raised could also be considered positive for gold," he said, noting that higher interest rates increase the cost of holding commodities like precious metals. ÿÿÿÿAnalysts said today that the first-quarter employment cost index and gross domestic product reports showed strong growth but little inflation. ÿÿÿÿ"This is good for sectors like stocks, but when they start to climb, gold is ignored again," said one trader. ÿÿÿÿThe employment cost index was reported up 0.7% in the first quarter which is the smallest increase in a year and below the expectations of a 1% gain. ÿÿÿÿWhile the gross domestic product rose by a larger-than-expected 4.2% in the first quarter, the GDP deflator was up by only 0.9%, which is the lowest growth in 34 years. ÿÿÿÿMeanwhile, silver had managed to climb higher before its rally was abruptly stopped by gold's slide, after it was able to hold support. ÿÿÿÿ"May was recently able to hold $6.045, which was positive," said one trader. However, another noted that silver had moved higher in thin trade on a lack of selling, rather than any strong buying. ÿÿÿÿ"The fact that it's rally was stopped by gold shows that it was pretty weak," he noted. ÿÿÿÿPlatinum edged lower on weakness in gold, while palladium stayed strong on continued fears that Russian exports will be held up for some time. SETTLEMENT PRICES ÿÿÿÿ--Jun gold (GCM8) at $307.90, down $3.70; RANGE: 313.3-306.5 ÿÿÿÿ--Jly silver (SIN8) at $6.230, down 1c; RANGE: 6.34-6.17 ÿÿÿÿ--Jly platinum (PLN8) at $400.40, down $4.3; RANGE: 407.5-400.0 ÿÿÿÿ--Jun palladium (PAM8) at $309.70, up $2.80; RANGE: 310.0-300.0 SPOT PRECIOUS METALS PRICES: ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿLate New York London Late Tokyo Gold (KRCGL) 306.40-306.90 309.50-310.00 310.70-311.20 Silver (KRCSL) 6.23-6.26 6.17-6.26 6.18-6.20 Platinum (KRCPL) 400.00-402.00 403.00-406.00 405.00-409.00 Palladium (KRCPA) 365.00-375.00 355.00-365.00 365.00-375.00 -- Melanie Lovatt, Bridge News