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

To: Cheeky Kid who wrote (29370)	3/4/1999 2:33:00 PM
From: George Castilarin	Respond to of 116753

Thursday March 4, 12:09 pm Eastern Time Gold closes firmer in Europe, silver ends steady LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Gold firmed in late European precious metals business on Thursday with dealers saying buying by U.S. institutions lifted gold higher. Gold ended at $287.80/$288.30 a troy ounce in Europe, a dollar up from Wednesday's close in New York at $286.80/$287.30. Dealers said gold remained rangebound although it received some support from trade-house buying in New York with some traders noting that the latest Commitment of Traders Report released earlier this week showed short positions of over seven million ounces. ''We are still pretty much at the top of the range, we've had some trade house-type buying which suggests they are still trying to take out stops above $290.00,'' one dealer said. Bullion received a boost after a news report quoting a Swiss government spokesman as saying Swiss sales of surplus gold reserves might only start in late 2000 or 2001. ''The Swiss have announced that they are going to delay their sale plans until at least 2001,'' the dealer said. But a finance ministry spokesman told Reuters Switzerland has pushed back until next year the earliest possible approval of its plan to sell excess gold, but this will not necessarily alter the timetable for sales to start no earlier than the first quarter of 2000. Finance ministry spokesman Daniel Eckmann said on Thursday that Switzerland will use a revision of the constitution's currency section now working its way through parliament and due for a referendum in early 2000 as the legal basis for potential gold sales, not the new constitution to be voted on next month. The dealer said the Swiss news gave some support to gold. ''It has certainly given some relief to the market which has been under quite severe pressure from selling on the back of things like that and the IMF sales. It gives us some respite for the time being,'' the dealer said. The Swiss National Bank said in December that Switzerland won't be able to start selling any gold reserves before 2000 even if Swiss voters approve in April 1999 a new constitution that severs the Swiss franc's link to gold. The Swiss government plans to revalue the 2,590 tonnes of gold reserves on the Swiss National Bank's books and gradually sell off the half not needed for monetary policy. The government has said it would pace any gold sales so that they did not disrupt the market. Dealers said silver bounced back in late European trading as players began buying at low levels and silver lease rates moved lower. Silver ended the European trading session at $5.29/$5.32 a troy ounce compared to the $5.24/$5.26 New York close. Platinum and palladium also firmed in late Europe, platinum ended at $372.00/$374.00 an ounce from the New York close at $371.25/$373.25. Palladium ended higher at $345.00/$350.00 against $344.00/$349.00.