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

To: Ron Everest who wrote (30614)	3/24/1999 8:33:00 PM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116791

Closing N.Y. Precious Metals: Gold Down Despite NATO Strikes <Picture> New York-March 24-FWN--COMEX Apr gold futures settled down 60 cents at $284.10 per ounce after an inside day's trading, showing little reaction to news late in the session that the US and NATO had started airstrikes against the Serbs. Silver, platinum and palladium also settled lower in subdued markets. "People are holding back--there was good movement last week and now it's just consolidating," said one trader. He said that players could be taking a "wait-and-see" attitude after Apr gold's fall to a 6 1/2 month low of $282 on Mar 16. "The Kosovo thing could be keeping people from doing anything--they probably want to see if the problem lasts, or if it will be over quickly," he said. He noted that if it hurts US relations with Russia, which is opposed to the airstrikes, it may eventually spur a price rally. US and NATO allies started airstrikes today against Serbs in order to hurt the Serb military's ability to threaten the ethnic Albanians in the Serb-controlled province of Kosovo (stories .21003,.21454, .21264, .2119). The strikes were made after Serbs continued to refuse to sign a peace accord. One trader commented that if there had been no gut reaction to the Kosovo situation, gold was probably not going to get any kind of a boost. Sometimes gold gets a boost from such events, because, as a physical asset, it is regarded as a safe-haven in times of crisis. However, the trader noted that gold prices could have been pressured after crude futures fell back sharply after reaching almost a 6-month high this morning. He suggested that the dollar's rebound from this morning's slide against the yen was also erosive for gold prices. One trader said that there is "really nothing happening," noting that the push and pull factors in gold right now have essentially left it little-changed. However, he noted that the fear the IMF will sell a portion of its gold assets is still a cloud on the horizon. US president Clinton's urging the IMF to sell off a portion of its gold to help poor nations pushed Apr gold to last week's 6 1/2 month low. While May silver and Jun palladium also saw inside sessions, Apr platinum edged to a 2-day low. Platinum's fall was made on fund liquidation, commented one trader. (c) Copyright 1999 FWN