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HIGH Gold Prices

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mirage     14-Mar-2008 09:03  
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METALS STOCKS
Gold futures soar to record above $1,000 an ounce
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:01 p.m. EDT March 13, 2008
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures broke above the psychologically key level of $1,000 an ounce Thursday, propelled by ongoing dollar weakness and bleak news from the financial sector.
Early Thursday, gold for April delivery soared to a record high of $1,001.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was the first time that gold surpassed $1,000 an ounce. Graphic: Timeline of gold's march to $1000.
Later in the session, the gold contract gave up some of its gains and ended up $13.30 at $993.80 an ounce.
"Today's spike will likely become known as the Carlyle/Drake rally," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers, in a research note.
"The imminent doom of the Washington-based bond fund and probable demise of the hedge fund sent icy shivers through the financial markets that way overshadowed the cheer we witnessed following the Fed's term facility plan the other day," Nadler said.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks reversed early sharp losses to end higher after Standard & Poor's suggested that the bulk of write-downs linked to bad home loans may be behind for banks. See Market Snapshot.
The statement helped to partially offset concerns about the potential collapse of a fund owned by Carlyle Group (CARYF:
carlyle capital corp limited shs b
 Last: 0.29-11.71-97.59%
8:10pm 03/13/2008
Delayed quote data
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CARYF 0.29, -11.71, -97.6%) and another weak report on retail sales.
Carlyle Capital, the bond fund affiliated with private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is on the verge of collapse after failing to agree a new financing deal with lenders.
"This is just the start of things, and if the government continues to give away money and torpedo the dollar, gold will do nothing but move higher."
? Zachary Oxman, Wisdom Financial
The fund said late Wednesday that it expects lenders will soon take possession of "substantially all" its remaining assets after it was unable to meet surging margin calls on its portfolio of residential-mortgage-backed securities. Read more.
Adding to the bad news from the financial sector, Drake Management LLC, a hedge-fund firm run by Anthony Faillace and Steve Luttrell, is mulling options that include shutting its largest fund after losses and redemption requests from some investors, according to a letter sent to clients Wednesday. Read more.
Gold at $1,000 "will one day, and likely not too far off in the future, be looked at as a foreshadowing milestone," said Peter Spina, an analyst at GoldSeek.com.
"The gravity of the unfolding situation is starting to sink in with investors and that leads many more of them to move capital into real money -- into gold and silver," Spina said.
The dollar rebounded in afternoon trading Thursday from its earlier plunge against the Japanese yen, when the U.S. currency briefly fell through the psychologically key 100-yen level for the first time in over 12 years. See Currencies.
The dollar also recovered from all-time lows against the euro and the Swiss franc hit earlier Thursday.
The gold market is boosted by "dollar weakness, extreme concern over the market and a continued bid by funds that are taking the Fed money they are given and speculating with it vs. lending it," said Zachary Oxman, a senior trader at Wisdom Financial.
"This is just the start of things, and if the government continues to give away money and torpedo the dollar, gold will do nothing but move higher," Oxman said.
On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve and other leading central banks doubled to more than $400 billion the amount of money they're willing to lend to banks and bond dealers, hoping to flood dysfunctional credit markets with enough money to get them working again.
In more bleak economic news Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending weakened again in February as U.S. retail sales fell 0.6%.
Most kinds of retail stores reported lower seasonally adjusted sales in February even before the impact of inflation was counted. The figures were weaker than expected by Wall Street economists, who forecast no change in retail sales. See Economic Report.
Also on the Nymex, May silver rose 42 cents to $20.42 an ounce. April platinum gained $27.50 to end at $2,097.50 an ounce and June palladium rose $5 to $515.90 an ounce.
May copper ended down 1 cent at $3.83 a pound.
Crude-oil futures gained for a fourth straight day, closing above $110 a barrel for the first time and hitting a new record of $111 a barrel in the morning. See Futures Movers.
The Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI:
amex gold bugs index equal-$ weight
 Last: 507.54+18.10+3.70%
4:55pm 03/13/2008
Delayed quote data
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HUI 507.54, +18.10, +3.7%) soared 3.7% at 507.50 points.
As for the sector's exchange-traded funds, the StreetTracks Gold Trust ETF (GLD:
streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETF
 Last: 98.34+1.33+1.37%
4:00pm 03/13/2008
Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
GLD 98.34, +1.33, +1.4%) gained 1.4% at $98.34, the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV:
ishares silver trust ishares
 Last: 204.06+4.36+2.18%
4:01pm 03/13/2008
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SLV 204.06, +4.36, +2.2%) surged 2.2% at $204.06 and the Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF (GDX:
market vectors etf tr gold miner etf
 Last: 56.05+2.40+4.47%
4:15pm 03/13/2008
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GDX 56.05, +2.40, +4.5%) rallied 3.7% at $55.63. End of Story
Polya Lesova is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.
 
 
mirage     13-Mar-2008 08:55  
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Apologies last postings (12-Mar-2008 13:55 ) should be under HIGH Oil prices not HIGH Gold Prices.

 
 
 
mirage     12-Mar-2008 13:55  
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Oil near 109 dollars in Asian trade on supply concerns

Oil prices were close to 109 dollars in Asian trade on Wednesday, underpinned by the US greenback's dive to a new low against the euro and supply concerns.

In late morning trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, traded briefly at 108.90 dollars a barrel, up 15 cents from its record closing high of 108.75 dollars on Tuesday.

New York prices spiked to a new all-time high of 109.72 dollars Tuesday, bringing it to within touching distance of the 110-dollar mark.

London's Brent North Sea crude for April delivery eased one cent to 105.24 dollars a barrel from its record close of 105.25. The contract traded at a new high of 105.82 on Tuesday.

"The oil market is really soaring to unprecedented heights primarily due to funds and the speculators putting money into oil and other commodities," said Victor Shum, an analyst with Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.

"Money always looks for better returns," he said, adding investors who are flush with cash see commodities offering "a hedge against the weakening dollar and inflation." The dollar sank to a new low of 1.5495 against the euro Tuesday.

With the greenback mired in a slump and OPEC refusing to pump more crude despite pressure from the United States, oil prices are likely to continue to trend higher.

"At the moment, there doesn't seem to be anything that is holding it back," said Gerard Burg, minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

"The fundamental position of the market remains pretty sound," he said.

Prices have blazed a record-breaking trail in record weeks, smashing through 107 and 108 dollars in New York on Monday.

"Currently, concerns over a weakening US economy are leading investors to find a haven in commodities as the dollar weakens on expectations of further cuts in US interest rates," energy consultancy John Hall Associates said.

"This is outweighing the impact of fundamentals" of supply and demand, it said.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency also warned that high prices would likely be a reality for some time to come.

"We are in an era of higher oil prices," the IEA said in a monthly market report.
 

 
mirage     11-Mar-2008 09:31  
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Gold ends higher on oil surge, platinum falls
Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:11pm EDT
 


(Recasts, updates with closing prices, market activity, adds NEW YORK to dateline)

By Frank Tang and Atul Prakash

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Gold ended higher after initially falling on Monday, as record high oil prices and a weak dollar attracted speculators and investors back into the bullion market.

Palladium finished lower after falling nearly 6 percent to a three-week low, while platinum trimmed losses but still ended lower after sliding about 5 percent to its lowest level in one month.

Analysts said gold was likely to trade in a range ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting next week, but expectations of further interest rate cuts in the United States were likely to support the market over the medium to long-term.

Spot gold <XAU=> fell as low as $961.00 an ounce and was at $974.10/974.90 at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT), against $972.60/973.40 late in New York on Friday.

The active U.S. gold contract for April delivery GCJ8 settled down $2.40 at $971.80 an ounce, after bottoming at $961.90 earlier.

"The market was feeling a bit toppish, but now with oil trading at around $107 a barrel, people are regretting their sales and tip-toeing back to gold for sure," said David Holmes, director of metals sales at Dresdner Kleinwort.

"The market is characterised by volatility. A lot of the price action is speculative and people are quick to get in and out of the market at the moment." 


Record-high crude oil prices powered gold as a hedge against inflation. U.S. crude futures CLc1 settled up $2.75 to $107.90 a barrel, after rising to an all-time high of $108.21 earlier.

Gold is generally seen as a hedge against oil-led inflation. The metal also often moves in the opposite direction to the dollar as a weaker U.S. currency makes the metal cheaper for holders of other currencies and lifts bullion demand.

The dollar marginally fell against the euro after rising.

"The upward trend is still in place. People are just waiting for something to take it up towards $1,000 or maybe above it," said Michael Widmer, metals analyst at Lehman Brothers.

"I wouldn't be surprised if prices didn't do a lot ahead of the next week's Fed meeting and, the closer we get, the less likely that people are to take big positions."

CONSOLIDATION PHASE

Players were cautious as the Fed meeting would give a lot of information on issues such as the U.S. interest rate outlook and the health of the U.S. economy, Widmer said.

Gold hit an historic high of $991.90 an ounce on March 6 before funds cashed in. The metal had gained nearly 20 percent in 2008, on the top of a 32 percent rise last year.

"The metal's failure to break higher on Friday suggests the market may, just for the short-term, be in need of a phase of consolidation before challenging $1,000," said James Moore, precious metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. 

In industry news, South Africa's Chamber of Mines said the country's gold production fell 7.4 percent to 254,685 kg in 2007 mainly because of lower ore grades as well as safety-related mine closures. [ID:nL10346111]

Platinum retraced initial losses after suffering heavily on news that mines in South Africa, the world's top producer, would get 95 percent electricity supply against 90 percent.

"What undermined platinum was Eskom's announcement that it would raise power supply to South African mines to 95 percent," Holmes of Dresdner said, adding the market was extremely long and that the news had prompted sales.

Platinum <XPT=> fell to a low of $1,926 an ounce and was last at $1,980/1990, lower than its Friday finish of $2,020/2,030 in New York. The metal has fallen 16 percent in less than a week after hitting a record high of $2,290 on March 4.

 
 
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