Gold Detailed Information

Normally a $10/oz move in gold would capture all the headlines, but gold was outshone by platinum yesterday.
Speculative and investment interest drove the yellow metal's move, with strong buying evident on both futures exchanges and via the US-listed GLD ETF.

Flows in the spot market were remarkably light: certainly physical demand was minimal. An imprompt meeting with more than half of the members of the Bombay Bullion Association in their offices in Mumbai last night suggests demand has slowed with the recent price increase, and will shudder to a halt following Thursday's move.

Gold halted just short of $625/oz where option barriers were believed to lie. But when this level was breached, there was little follow-through, although the metal did close at the high on Comex, before drifting a couple of dollars lower in electronic trade.

The absence of the Tocom market today due to a holiday has left gold quiet in Asia and this should continue until the release of non-farm payrolls at 1330 GMT.

Thereafter, the short-term direction of gold will probably be determined by moves in the dollar, but as long as the metal holds $610/oz into the end of the week, further gains are likely. Silver mimicked gold's moves, although relatively quietly.

As in gold, our ETF traders note renewed interest in the last few days, mostly on the buying side.