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Gold/Mining/Energy : Day trading in Canada -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: keith massey who wrote (566)	9/25/1998 4:35:00 AM
From: Wizzer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4467

Some people were discussing gold and I believe this article is very pertinent, although somewhat off-topic. Gold's worst enemy could still become the metal's best friend Friday, September 25, 1998 By KATE ASKEW Gold's worst enemy over the past year, the hedge fund, may have become the metal's best friend. Long-Term Capital Management of the US, one of the many funds said to have made billions shorting gold, is in trouble. As the fund's creditors take control of the business to try to recover losses, rumours are mounting it will be forced to buy back large amounts of gold to cover short positions. Three-month gold rose $US2 to $US292.50 in Comex trading. The amount of physical gold the troubled hedge fund may buy back is unclear, but speculators yesterday suggested it could be anything from 7 million to 12 million ounces, or between 220 tonnes and 375 tonnes. To put that into context, Australia, which is the world's second largest gold producer, produced 314 tonnes of gold in 1997. World production was 2,716 tonnes. The catalyst for gold prices collapsing last year was Australia's Reserve Bank selling 167 tonnes of its gold reserves. Now that other investors think that Long-Term Capital may be looking to liquidate some of its positions, they are not going to make it easy. Gold investors, for instance, will hold out for higher prices when they know there is a distressed buyer. Gold shares rose strongly in the US. The Philadelphia Gold & Silver index rose 6.6 per cent and the Toronto Gold & Precious Metals index 4.5 per cent. "To get a 6.6 per cent move on a $US2 change in the gold price is almost ludicrous. "There is no way you can justify it fundamentally," Bell Securities gold analyst Mr Keith Goode said last night. "The volatility is staggering, which just shows there is something going on." On average, a $US1 movement in the gold price is reflected in a 1 per cent movement in the gold indices. The local market followed suit. Gold companies leveraged to gold price movements benefited most. Lihir Gold surged 4.19 per cent, Newcrest Mining 4.17 per cent, Acacia Resources 2.94 per cent and Great Central 2.68 per cent.