A Few Reasons to Cover the Gold Shorts
The U.S. Comex gold futures surged 3.33 percent on Monday, the highest
percentage change since 29 June last year. On Wednesday morning in
Asia, the gold futures rose further and traded above $1,340. The
Dollar Index fell about 0.8 percent this week to 81.945 on Tuesday. The
S&P 500 index was flat in the past two days while the Euro Stoxx 50
Index rose 0.25 percent.
A Floor to China’s Growth
The gold market has been adjusting to the expectations of the Fed’s
tapering. A Bloomberg poll shows that 50 percent of those surveyed
expects that the U.S. Fed will reduce its bond purchases to $65 billion a
month in September. The market also takes comfort from the news that
the Chinese government will put a floor of its GDP growth at 7 percent
because China needs to become a moderately wealthy society by 2020. The
July flash China PMI came in weaker at 47.7 compared to an expected
48.2. China has also started to liberalize its interest rates by
removing the lower limit of the financial institutions’ lending rates.
The next important step in China’s structural reforms will be the
liberalization of the deposit rates.
Support for Gold Prices
The surge in gold has been accompanied by a weaker U.S. dollar. In
June, the existing home sales in the U.S. fell to 5.08 million on an
annualized basis compared to the median forecast of 5.26 million and
5.14 million in May. On 22 July, the gold futures closed above its
50-day moving average for the first time in eight months. Physical
demand has been robust in Asia as evidenced by the persistent premiums.
The dwindling Comex gold inventory has raised concerns of default by
the Comex. Gold traders are increasingly covering their shorts as
physical gold delivery is getting a little harder each day. The CFTC
data shows that during the week of 16 July, the net short positions in
gold by speculators fell 10.82 percent to 121,305 contracts while the
net combined positions surged a whopping 47.72 percent. On the negative
front, India has further restricted gold imports by requiring the
importers to set aside 20 percent at the customs warehouses for
re-exports. The gold will be made available to jewellers and bullion
dealers only. The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation expects
the gold imports to drop 63 percent in the second half of this year,
further pressuring gold prices.
This story is provided by Sharps Pixley, for more information and content please visit: www.SharpsPixley.com
24 Jul 2013 | Categories: Gold
