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

To: long-gone who wrote (14280)	7/9/1998 9:21:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116767

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Gold softened again on Thursday before hitting decent support at the $291.50-an-ounce level, a nearby floor arresting further currency inspired drops, dealers said. Gold fixed just higher at $292.20 an ounce in the morning, 20 cents up on the previous afternoon's figure, after spot metal softened from its European opening amid yen weakness versus the dollar. It was last at $291.80/$292.30 versus $293.00/$293.50 at its previous New York close. ''It's all a bit soft this morning although there's definitely good support at $291.50 and probably lumpy resistance around the $295.50 area,'' said one London dealer. ''There's been some lending coming in this morning in the gold and silver. It's people getting out of their long positions which means there's more metal about,'' she added. Gold dropped a couple of dollars on Wednesday both on softness in the yen versus the dollar and European Central Bank news on reserve policies which dealers took as bearish. ECB President Wim Duisenberg said gold would make up 15 percent of the new bank's planned 39.5 billion Ecus ($43 billion) of reserves, adding that the decision had no implications for overall central bank gold reserve levels. He added that dollars, gold and other foreign reserve assets held by national central banks would be brought under indirect control of the European Central Bank by the end of 1998, a remark brokers GNI saw as being positive for gold. ''Firstly, the statement implies that no European nation bank gold sales will be seen before the end of the year, which could tighten the market, and secondly because it will remove the depressing competitive pressure seen previously (for banks to get any sales in first),'' it said in a report. ''In addition, it is one thing to centralise control of gold reserves, another to reach a consensus on whether or not they should be sold,'' GNI said. ''We see this news as providing a floor for the gold price for the next six months and tightening physical conditions should mean that prices will rally from here given the slightest encouragement from the Far East,'' it added. Economic problems through Southeast Asia have meant bullion dealers have focused on the dollar/yen strength, with weakness in the yen taken as a bearish signal for gold demand in the region. That continued on Thursday as the dollar strengthened above 140 yen on position-squaring late on in Tokyo. ''Gold still looks poor,'' said a second London dealer. ''It managed only a meagre bounce in New York, and Tokyo have sold it lower on the stronger dollar overnight,'' he said. ''So long as the yen does not recover, I think we will test the lows again, and break lower to $290.00 as next support.'' Silver softened in sympathy with gold and was last trading down two cents on New York's Wednesday close of $5.34/$5.37. Platinum was also just down at $378.00/$380.00, $1.00 off New York while palladium was at $291.00/$301.00 versus $289.20/$299.20. 06:43 07-09-98

To: long-gone who wrote (14280)	7/9/1998 8:38:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116767

Corn, soy, cotton up on weather, oil on Nigeria 06:10 p.m Jul 08, 1998 Eastern CHICAGO, July 8 (Reuters) - Concern that a heat wave scorching the southern United States would threaten the Corn Belt pushed corn and soybean prices higher for a second day on Wednesday. In other markets, cotton rose to a fresh two-year high on the weather worries. Oil closed higher on concern about political stability in Nigeria, a top exporter, while gold ended slightly lower on news that Europe's new central bank would hold a smaller than expected amount of gold in its official reserves. At the Chicago Board of Trade, soybeans for August delivery closed 5-1/4 cents a bushel higher at $6.47 and corn for September delivery rose 2-3/4 cents to $2.49. Nervousness about the weather was tied to forecasts for a heat-producing high-pressure ridge to expand into the U.S. Midwest next week. Temperatures in some areas were projected at 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), raising the potential for crop damage and lower yields as corn enters the crucial pollination stage. ''The high-pressure ridge looks stronger,'' said Mario Balletto, an oilseed analyst with Merrill Lynch in Chicago. ''And there's a fear that it may last longer.'' Jon Davis, chief meteorologist for Salomon Smith Barney Inc., said, ''If everything does evolve next week as is indicated this morning, it could persist for an extended period of time.'' Prices surged from the opening bell, but increased farmer sales of corn and soybeans during the day helped pull the markets well off their highs by the close, traders said. That retracement also weighed on wheat prices, which gave up early gains and closed lower. Wheat for September delivery in Chicago closed 2-3/4 cents a bushel lower at $2.82-1/2, with huge world supplies and weaker Asian demand continuing to put a damper on any rally. Cotton prices closed mixed, although traders continued to evaluate what appears to be widespread damage to the crop in non-irrigated areas of drought-ridden Texas, the top producer state. More heat forecast for Mississippi Delta cotton states such as Arkansas was also a factor supporting prices on Wednesday. ''That's the main piece of support there,'' said Joe Carney, commodity broker for STA Trading Services in Memphis. Cotton for July delivery at the New York Cotton Exchange closed 0.39 cent a pound higher at 83.19 cents, the highest close since May 1996. Oil prices rose on jitters about stability in Nigeria. Crude oil for August delivery at the New York Mercantile Exchange closed 23 cents higher at $13.85 a barrel. In Nigeria, military ruler General Abdulsalam Abubakar appealed for calm after about 20 people died in rioting that followed the announcement of opposition politician Moshood Abiola's sudden death on Tuesday. But Abubakar, in a speech on Nigerian television, did not mention any plan to free other political prisoners or any concrete measures to restore democracy. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, produces more than two million barrels of oil daily, a large part of which is sold to the United States. Early Wednesday, officials at multinational oil firms working in Nigeria said the unrest had no immediate effect on crude oil production. But Nigerian output was affected for short periods during strikes and protests in 1994 after Abiola was arrested by the army for having declared himself president. Many Nigerians believe he won the 1993 elections. August heating oil rose 0.22 cent a gallon to 37.82 cents, but August gasoline fell 0.13 cent a gallon to 46.79 cents. Gold prices fell slightly after the new European Central Bank, or ECB, said it would hold 15 percent of its reserves in gold bullion, a figure on the low end of analysts' estimates. August gold at the COMEX in New York fell $1.70 an ounce to close at $294.20. But some analysts said the ECB's additional decision to take control of foreign reserve asset operations of European Union national banks could help gold prices in the long run. ''What this means is that there is much less chance in future of unilateral action to sell gold by individual European central banks,'' said Charles von Arentschildt, Deutsche Bank's New York managing director for bullion sales. ''In future the larger European central banks, which have greater voting power in the ECB, will have a greater say in gold sales, and that means gold sales are less likely, as they will be more politically problematic,'' he said. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.