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To: Alex who wrote (33540)	5/9/1999 6:42:00 PM
From: Tom Byron	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116779

alex: do you know if the australian gold markets have opened yet, and if they have, how are they doing..?

To: Alex who wrote (33540)	5/9/1999 7:24:00 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116779

Hi Alex. CTV news is showing gold up 5.70 at this time in Asia this must be a mistake have you seen anything on POG. KITCO not updating yet. Lorne

To: Alex who wrote (33540)	5/9/1999 8:02:00 PM
From: hunchback	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116779

Can someone please tell me what this means...? Weekend Stock Market Analysis 5/7/99 By Jeff Cooper A few weeks ago, I drew a comparison of the XAU pattern and the Dow bottom in 1982 that has certainly played itself out despite a yard sale on gold by the bank of England on Friday. Watch the behavior of gold stocks next week after a multi-day pullback.

To: Alex who wrote (33540)	5/9/1999 8:46:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

Gold miners face another crisis By Stephen Wyatt Australia's gold industry is facing another crisis of confidence after Britain announced it would sell more than half of its $10 billion of gold reserves. The shock announcement sent the price of gold bullion plunging more than $US10 an ounce in overseas markets over the weekend, and gold stocks in North America and South Africa also fell sharply. Australian gold shares face a similar sell-off when the market opens today. Last week, the Australian gold index gained 14 per cent after renewed inflation concerns helped push the gold price up to $US290 an ounce. On Friday alone, the index gained 8.5 per cent. The commodity-sensitive Australian dollar has already been hit by the news, losing more than a cent on Friday night from a 14-month high of US67.40¢ to US66.30¢. It regained some ground to close in New York at US67.14¢. Gold is Australia's second largest commodity export after coal. The British Treasury announcement that it would sell 415 tonnes, or almost 60 per cent of its 717 tonnes of gold reserves, refocused attention on the massive amount of bullion resting in the vaults of the world's central banks. Dealers and fund managers rushed to sell the metal. Gold fell to a low of $US279.50/oz, before edging higher to around $US282.50/oz at the close in New York. North American and South African gold shares suffered badly, with the Philadelphia gold and silver equity index (XAU) down 12.5 per cent on Friday and the Johannesburg gold index down almost 5 per cent. In the past week, Normandy Mining and Newcrest have both gained 15 per cent and Delta Gold is up 21 per cent. The British Treasury will reduce its reserves to 300 tonnes by a series of auctions, starting with 25 tonnes on July 6, then 25 tonnes in September, November, January and March. The balance of about 300 tonnes will be sold over the medium term. This gold "will be replaced by foreign currency assets in a prudent restructuring of reserve holdings", a UK Treasury spokesman said on Friday. Market sources say 40 per cent will go into euros, 40 per cent in US dollars and 20 per cent in yen. This central bank gold sale is just another nail in gold's status as a financial instrument, a status it has enjoyed for the past 300 years and that led to the world's central banks holding a massive 30,000 tonnes of gold, a third of the gold ever mined. However, for the past decade, central banks have been trying to reweight their portfolios. Canada has sold 622 tonnes since 1979, Belgium 1,000 tonnes since 1988, the Netherlands 700 tonnes since 1992, Australia 167 tonnes in 1997 and Argentina 124 tonnes in 1997. The IMF, subject to final approval, will be selling 300 tonnes of its 3,200-tonne hoard and Switzerland 1,300 tonnes (subject to legislative change). The latest announcement could see the gold market move to new 18-year price lows this year, said Mr Andy Smith, precious metals analyst with Mitsui Metals in London. The UK Treasury has impressed on the market the orderly nature of its forthcoming gold sale program. Many Australian gold producers, like Mr Robert de Crespigny, of Normandy, welcome orderliness and transparency when the official sector decides to sell gold. They recognise that central banks will be selling gold and argue that the market impact of such sales would never have been as severe if these sales had been executed more openly. This would have and will reduce market uncertainty. However, "how many orderly sales equals a riot?" asks Mr Smith. "On one view, this is a UK pre-emptive strike on more leisurely Swiss and IMF intentions. This pattern of 'be first' confirms a 'prisoner's dilemma' among official gold holders." afr.com.au

To: Alex who wrote (33540)	5/9/1999 9:05:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

Facing Impeachment, Cornered Yeltsin Prepares to Strike Back MOSCOW, May. 09, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia's unpredictable and often erratic President Boris Yeltsin this week faces an impeachment vote which observers fear may end in political confrontation and financial doom. A cornered Yeltsin has always struck back at his foes and analysts say he is likely to do so again when parliament picks up the five-count hearing on Thursday. The Kremlin, however, needs the Communist-controlled parliament now more than ever as a heavy stack of key tax legislation rests at its doorstep. Russia's economic future depends on those bills since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders refuse to stretch a last-chance lifeline to Moscow until reforms finally come into law. Now even the most sober Kremlin watchers are warning that Russia has entered yet another spell of uncertainty that in the worst-case scenario could turn the nation into a financial pariah and see Soviet-era nationalists running the show. "A constitutionally empowered president with Mr. Yeltsin's record for doing the unexpected, and who feels as cornered and as isolated as does Mr. Yeltsin currently, is a highly volatile variable," the MFK Renaissance investment firm cautioned in a recent note. "All omens portend a fairly serious escalation in political uncertainty." Impeachment would deliver a deep personal wound to Yeltsin. It would rid the president and his family of political immunity and close his chapter in the history books on a humiliating note. Relations here have already turned so testy that Yeltsin at times refuses to shake Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's hand. "No matter what the outcome of impeachment things will be far worse after the vote then they already are," said Yevgeny Volk of the Heritage Foundation research institute. "We are staring at government paralysis." Parliament has been plotting impeachment for years but had previously stalled from fear that a furious Yeltsin would dissolve the chamber in revenge. But impeachment plays well with frustrated voters who last week gave Yeltsin a two-percent approval rating. Parliamentary elections, meanwhile, are only seven months away. One count -- Yeltsin's decision to launch the disastrous 1994-1996 Chechen war -- has a fair chance at collecting enough votes to send the entire procedure to the courts and later the upper chamber of parliament. "Impeachment rests on only a few votes," Volk said. "Right now it is too close to call." Powerful lawmaker Alexander Shokhin has already predicted that Yeltsin will fire Primakov's government on Thursday evening. "Of course Yeltsin wants to get rid of Primakov and he will," said political analyst Andrei Piontkovsky. "It is just a question of time." By firing Primakov -- or by axing Communists from his cabinet to make the premier resign on his own -- Yeltsin would start a chain-reaction that could quickly lead to a shut-down of parliament. Deputies have rallied around Primakov and his leftist economic aides. Almost any other candidate for the post would fail to win confirmation. The constitution in that case allows Yeltsin to call for new elections. A Russia without a confirmed government or parliament and headed by a visibly ailing and sometimes rambling president is an unpleasant prospect to most. Analysts further point to sever anti-western sentiments here blown up by NATO strikes against Yugoslavia which could lead to nationalists and Communist sympathizers storming into power at the next elections. The fate of any IMF-sponsored legislation would then likely be doomed for good. This gloomy scenario however may yet be averted if Primakov uses his best diplomatic skills on his Communist supporters in a bid to avert an impeachment showdown. "Success by the government at managing to cut a compromise which is acceptable both to (parliament) and to the IMF would provide powerful evidence that perhaps, after all, the Primakov road to economic recovery is more than a pipe-dream," MFK Renaissance said. ( (c) 1999 Agence France Presse) russiatoday.com