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

To: Karen E Hoof who wrote (24490)	12/17/1998 4:15:00 PM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116798

12/17/98 - CLOSING N.Y. METALS: MOSTLY LOWER; SWISS VOTE AFFECTS GOLD <Picture> New York-Dec. 17-FWN--THE PRECIOUS METALS COMPLEX ENDED the session mostly lower, with losses in gold accelerated when the lower house of the Swiss parliament approved a constitutional amendment that would authorize sales of some of the country"s reserves, sources here said. The measure is still far from approval, needing to pass the upper house and a constitutional referendum that would not even occur until the year 2000. But nevertheless, the lower-house passage contributed toward today"s declines, since it was the first step in the process, contacts said. Sources reported that silver and platinum were drug down by the declines in gold. The one metal to finish higher was palladium on the continued lack of fresh Russian spot sales and anticipation of another supply disruption in early 1999. The gold market got a slight upward blip in overnight trading following U.S. and British air attacks on Iraq in retaliation for its non-compliance with U.N. weapons inspections. But it came into the New York session lower, with market watchers saying that such international crises do not appear to be supporting the yellow metal as much as they did at one time. Some early profit taking was reported in gold and silver. But over the course of the day, gold extended its losses, eventually settling $3.60 lower at $292.90. "The Swiss had a vote in their lower house of parliament on a proposition from awhile ago that they would be able to sell some gold," said Patrick Magilligan, vice president with Merrill Lynch. According to news reports, the measure passed by a margin of 95 to 57. The proposal, which would weaken the peg between the metal and country"s currency, is still far from final approval, however. It must pass the upper house and then go to a public referendum in the year 2000, according to reports. If eventually approved, however, it could lead to the sale of some 1,300 metric tons. "It"s not like it"s going to happen soon," Magilligan reported. "But it seems to be a step toward that direction and it was enough to get people a bit excited today, so they sold gold." Silver followed the move lower in gold, Magilligan reported. March silver fell 11.5 cents to $4.96. A silver/gold floor trader reported mixed selling in both metals. He added that stop-loss selling was triggered in each. More to follow...