To: Enigma who wrote (29317 ) 3/3/1999 8:58:00 AM From: George Castilarin Respond to of 116764
LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Gold lay stranded near $286.00 during early European trade on Wednesday, well within its recent range, as silver borrowing rates eased once more, dealers said. London gold fixed at $286.65 a troy ounce versus Tuesday afternoon's $288.25 as spot prices meandered barely changed from New York's Tuesday close of $286.50/$287.00. Silver prices held firm during early trade, despite gradually easing borrowing rates. ''There's some light, two-way trading interest in gold this morning but it's really fairly quiet,'' said one London dealer. Gold tried to breach a long-term downtrend line at $288.50 on Tuesday, but ran into both producer selling and fresh fund short-selling which kept it within its $285.00/$289.00 range, the dealer added. India's Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said no revenue target had been fixed for the government's planned gold bond scheme announced in the federal budget for 1999/2000. ''There is no target in our minds as far as the gold bond is concerned,'' Sinha told the Foreign Correspondents Club. Sinha's gold bond scheme allows banks to accept gold deposits and issue interest bearing certificates or bonds, which on maturity could be reclaimed in gold. He said the country's gold imports might go down because of the gold bond scheme, an outcome London analysts have said will depend on the bonds' success, which they have questioned. Silver lease rates wavered below nine percent for one-month metal during early trade as spot prices held within a couple of cents of Tuesday's New York close at $5.34/$5.37. ''There has been some pretty good lending in the last couple of days which has made some people start liquidating their long positions,'' said one Swiss dealer. ''It still doesn't look bad as long as it stays above $5.25/$5.27. I would still rather buy dips here,'' he added. Platinum was last lower at $371.00/$373.00 versus New York's close at $375.25/$377.25 while palladium was $1.00 down at $349.00/$354.00.