Series of Events await for the precious metals market

Gold has been on a five month high, where prices climbed on Monday, with declines in a leading dollar index, Treasury yields and the U.S. stock market, as well as comments from a well-known fund manager, prompting prices to settle at their highest in just over a week.

The gains in gold come ahead of key central-bank policy decisions this week and uncertainty around concrete trade developments between the U.S. and China.

There were a host of reasons responsible for this positive splurge in gold prices-

US Dollar - On Monday, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.4% at 97.054. Gold is often sensitive to movements in the dollar. A weaker U.S. unit typically boosts demand for commodities priced in dollars as it makes them less expensive to users of other currencies.

US stock - Benchmark U.S. stock indexes, meanwhile, traded broadly lower as gold futures settled, after ending last week in a rout that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average back into correction territory. Stock weakness generally supports gold resulting in an upward movement.

Fed rate hike - Market expectations for 2019 Fed rate increases, once put at three to four more increases, have also begun to lessen on the back of dovish comments from Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell. Fed rate-hike expectations are plummeting. Fed fund futures imply only a good 70% probability of a rate hike at the Fed’s meeting next week, with the probability of another by the end of 2019 likewise at only around 70%.

Expert advice - Double line Capital Founder Jeff Gundlach predicted the U.S. dollar would struggle in the coming new year, and that U.S. equities will enter a bear market. Post this statement; Prices for the metal got an added boost to intraday highs.

Brexit - Brexit is another geopolitical factor whose uncertainty is supportive for haven metals, though, again, the reaction has been muted so far. In the U.K., solutions to the Brexit dilemma are still hard to come by, a background story that is keeping the dollar bid, but not offering much extra boost for precious metals.

Apart from the ongoing activities there are a series of events that await the precious metals markets-

And other monetary policy updates this week, the Bank of Japan will make an announcement late Wednesday and the Bank of England meets on Thursday. The dollar has enjoyed relative strength against the yen and the pound, in part because of the interest-rate differential between the U.S. and its major economic allies. the Bank of Japan will make an announcement late Wednesday monetary policy updates this week, and the Bank of England meets on Thursday China’s Central Economic Work Conference a speech by President Xi Jinping There have been signs if panic in the market resulting in higher volatility. Riskier assets have been under pressure due to geopolitical events.
Currently the highlight is the ongoing US china trade spat and the market needs to see some real signs that point towards resolving some of their differences.

Gold goes weak for this week

Gold has witnessed a decline in the current week thanks to the strengthening dollar. Gold prices fell on Wednesday and Thursday as the dollar traded higher.

The U.S. dollar was performing strong against major rivals on Wednesday, a bullish reflection of upbeat economic outlooks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the central bank’s Beige Book report.

Gold prices dropped on Thursday as the dollar remained near a three-week high. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments this week implied increasing interest rates and continued to put pressure on the precious metal prices.

Gold prices sank as hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed the US Dollar higher (as expected), undermining the appeal of non-interest-bearing and anti-fiat assets. He argued that despite recent worries about trade tensions, the economy remains in good shape and the best path forward continues to be a gradual increase in interest rates.

Powell reiterated the likelihood for gradual interest-rate tightening, suggesting the Fed was on track to raise rates twice more before the end of 2018.

The fall in gold prices came as the dollar held firm against its peers following bullish comments from Powell. The U.S. Dollar Index remained unchanged at 94.84 on Thursday after hitting a three-week high of 95.407 the previous day

On the U.S. data front, housing starts in June dropped by 12.3% from numbers in May, which were also revised lower, and were 3% lower than year-ago levels.

Meanwhile, the pound also weakened against the greenback, late Tuesday in New York. The pound’s slide comes amid signs that inflationary pressures in the U.K. are easing, which make the Bank of England may think twice about raising its key rate by 25 basis points, as is still expected by market participants.

U.K. consumer prices rose 2.4%, unchanged from May and missing expectations of a 2.6% reading. Core inflation slipped to 1.9%, falling below the Bank of England’s 2% target.

Seeing the bigger picture, we can say that the Fed is confident enough of the dollar getting stronger in light of a positive economic growth. And this may result in interest rates hike which will further make the dollar more attractive relatively to other currencies.

Winter demand good for gold but prices likely to fall

Gold prices were hovering near multi-week highs for most investors outside the US Dollar and Euro on Thursday, as the Bank of England followed the Federal Reserve's widely expected "no change" decision by raising UK rates off an all-time record low as analysts and traders had forecast.
However in Friday, Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,267.01 per Ounce and touched a one-week low of $1,265.16 over positive economic data and central bank decisions.

The past week was a significant week for central banks. The Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time in ten years, the Federal Reserve indicated that a December rate hike may happen and President Trump named Powell as his choice for leader of the Federal Reserve.

But still uncertainty prevails as there is no surety that how economies will manage when the central bank support is withdrawn. Moreover none of the financial centers have managed to meet inflation targets which they were all so vocal about.

Adding to the uncertainty is the issue that three of the world’s four most important central bank chiefs are nearing the end of their terms and may be well replaced. The rally in the gold price and fall in the dollar is just the first indication with how markets feel about such changes.

Gold held steady on Monday, but hovered near a one-week low hit in the previous session, as largely upbeat U.S. economic data reinforced the prospects of another rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

U.S. jobs growth accelerated in October, although wage growth was tepid, adding to the Fed’s assessment last week that “the labor market has continued to strengthen”, with the sluggish wage data doing little to change expectations.

JP Morgan Chase & Co on Friday raised its forecast on the number of U.S. interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve next year to four from three as the October payrolls data reinforced the view of a tightening domestic labor market.

Markets are increasingly confident the Fed will hike interest rates in December, which has weighed on the precious metals complex,

Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, putting pressure on gold prices by increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

The Federal Reserve looks likely to raise interest rates, and that should bring up the value of the US dollar in general. If that’s the case, then gold could roll over a bit. Ultimately, this is a market that will continue to be just as mixed up as many others are right now, as we do not know with any type of certainty that the Federal Reserve is going to do one thing or the other.

Analysts said the yellow metal could also find support after U.S. President Donald Trump, who kicked off a 12-day Asia trip, looked to present a united front with Japan against North Korea.
Moreoverdemand for gold is likely to rise not only in the domestic market butinternationally too.
While we see the onset of the wedding season in India, normally winter is also a good time for gold globally with men buying their significant others jewellery for Christmas and lots of New Year’s Day marriage proposals

This rise in demand is expected tousher in renewed interest for bullion in coming week.

GOLD CRASHES BUT LANDS SAFELY: RSBL

 By Mr. Prithviraj Kothari, MD, RSBL

Gold prices have rallied 31.4 percent since the December low at $1,046.40. Safe-haven demand increased due to the following factors:

• The US Federal Reserve proposed in December four rate increases in 2016 but at best it might deliver just one rise before the end of the year
• Its inverse relationship with the dollar index has allowed gold to climb
• The growing number of negative-yielding sovereign bonds has made safe-haven assets that bear no yield much more appealing
• Pro-long utilisation of easy monetary policies by global central banks has eroded the value of paper money
• Speculative funds as well as ETF investors have flocked into gold in search of yield

Though 2016 has been one of the best performing years for gold since 2012 the yellow metal registered its biggest daily drop in three years on last Tuesday and extended losses in the previous session after forecast-beating U.S. manufacturing data and comments from Fed officials saying there was a strong case for raising rates.

Gold fell for the eighth straight session on Thursday, slipping to a four-month low, pressured by a stronger dollar after U.S. weekly jobless claims fell and ahead of key data that could put the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates this year.

Gold fell for a ninth straight session on Friday on a stronger dollar ahead of key U.S. jobs data and the metal was headed for its worst weekly dip in over three years on increased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate rise by year end.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 249,000 for the week to Oct. 1. The U.S. dollar .DXY rose to the highest in more than two months against a basket of currencies as the data reinforced the view that the Fed would raise rates at the end of the year

This declined gold prices drastically but by the end of Friday gold futures staged a modest recovery amidst all these concerns.

Though the unemployment benefits declined, a slow growth rate was recorded for the third straight month in September. Gold prices got an initial boost from this.

In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) intends to push on with its aggressive stimulus policy of negative interest rates and massive bond buying until it is happy with the outlook for euro zone inflation, senior officials said. ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said a Bloomberg report suggesting that there was already consensus among ECB rate setters to reduce the 80 billion euros ($89 billion) monthly bond purchases was mistaken.

The report aggravated a sell-off in gold on Tuesday as the yellow metal fell over three percent to its worst one-day fall since September 2013. 

In the short term, gold prices might remain under selling pressure. While the metal could consolidate lower and put the bulls to the test, it remains to be seen how long or deep the consolidation process will be. But we remain friendly towards gold – our medium-to-long-term view remains bullish and we could see the metal seeking a strong technical support to rebound into.

But there are chances that gold might trade sideways in the short term keeping in mind the following factors-

• Strained projected longs show that this trade is very much overcrowded. With no fresh buyers, the path of least resistance is downward
• Profit-taking could be a theme and, should panic ensue, panic selling could escalate as speculators and ETF investors are sitting on large unrealised profits
• The bulls’ bounciness has not really been tested and a mild correction/pullback should do the overall bull structure a lot of benefit
• Physical demand has been subdued due to high future prices – the current rally has not had the backing of strong physical up-take
• The Fed has armed its policymakers to prepare the market with combative messages that the US economy is primed for a 25-basis-point-rate rise before the end of 2016

These put a limitation to the bullish trend for gold. Nonetheless as we approach towards the last quarter of 2016 we all hope that it ends on a similar note as its beginning.

The primary purpose of this article by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari is to educate the masses of the current happenings in the Bullion world.

Previous blog:

"Volatile Markets: RSBL"

http://riddisiddhibullionsltd.blogspot.in/2016/10/volatile-markets-rsbl.html

GOLD- BUY AND HOLD: RSBL

 by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari, MD, RSBL

Bullion has rallied 26 percent in 2016, recovering from three years of losses, as low or negative interest rates have strengthened demand. Political uncertainty has also played a part, with the U.K.’s vote to quit the European Union spurring haven demand. Forecasters including Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings Ltd. have said that the U.S. contest may buttress prices amid concern about the possible implications of a Trump presidency.

Gold may be in for a bumpy ride in the final quarter as Republican candidate Donald Trump now has a 40 percent chance of winning the presidential election and investors will be preparing for the possibility of higher U.S. interest rates, according to Citigroup Inc. A probable victory of Donald Trump increases the chances of a single U.S. hike by the end of 2016.

But if it happens otherwise, then gold prices are likely to steady during 25-29 September after the US Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged, according to analysts. 

Bullion has been provoked from inertia after Fed rate concerns had helped wipe out gains for the quarter.

There is once again an inflow of capital in the market as low borrowing costs in the U.S. and economic stimulus by central banks from Japan to Europe drive demand for the precious metal as a store of value.

Over the previous week, gold achieved the best performance since July 2016 with a 2.4% rise, while the US dollar index recoded the worst performance, reaching 95.472 against a basket of currencies.

The precious metal is heading for the biggest weekly advance since July after U.S. central bankers opted to leave interest rates unchanged while reining in their outlook for future increases.

Gold prices edged lower on Friday, but notched the strongest weekly advance in almost two months after the Federal Reserve held off on raising interest rates and scaled back the number of rate hikes it expects next year.

This has once again pushed gold prices upwards and traders are no into the buy-and-hold mode for gold.

The precious metal is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion. A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.

Meanwhile, investors will be focusing on a series of important events lined up this week that play a pivotal role in influencing gold prices.

• A pair of speeches from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is to testify before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of European Parliament, in Brussels.
• For fresh hints on whether the ECB will step up monetary stimulus in the coming months to boost inflation and prop up the economy.
• Speech by Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will be eyed in wake of last week's decision by the BOJ to modify its policy framework
• Focus will also be maintained on the first U.S. presidential debate on Monday between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican hopeful Donald Trump
• Other speeches to be given by

                -Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan

                -Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz

                -Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer

                -BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is to speak in Tokyo.

• U.S. is to release data on new home sales, private sector data on consumer confidence, publish data on durable goods orders, to publish final figures on second quarter growth
• Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on regulation and supervision, while St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard is to speak in St. Louis.
• The Bank of Japan's big policy review is likely to see more QE and negative rates in the long run.
• Germany is to publish preliminary inflation data and a report on unemployment change.
• Japan is to release data on inflation and household spending.
• China is to publish its Caixin manufacturing index.
• Germany is to release data on retail sales.
• The U.K. is to report on the current account and publish revised data on second quarter growth.
• The euro zone is to release preliminary data on consumer inflation.
• Canada is to publish data on economic growth.
• The U.S. is to round up the week with data on personal income and spending, a report on business activity in the Chicago region and revised data on consumer sentiment.

Now  that series of events are scheduled for the week we expects markets player to be alert and markets to be volatile.

The primary purpose of this article by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari is to educate the masses of the current happenings in the Bullion world.

Previous blog:
"BULLISH SENTIMENTS FOR GOLD: RSBL
http://riddisiddhibullionsltd.blogspot.in/2016/09/bullish-sentiments-for-gold-rsbl.html
 

GOLD STABILISES: RSBL

By Mr. Prithviraj Kothari, MD, RSBL

Though gold slipped consecutively for 3 days, past week ended on a positive note and stayed on track for a second successive weekly gain driven by diminishing expectations of a looming hike in U.S. interest rates.

The metal was up 0.7 percent during the week, holding on to nearly half the sharp gains it made on last Tuesday after a weak U.S. data instigated talks that the Federal Reserve will hold off raising rates at its September policy meeting.

Spot gold was down 0.25 percent at $1,334.60 an ounce at 1152 GMT on 9th September, while it peaked $1,352.65 an ounce after rallying 1.8 percent on Tuesday.

Reasons being the same- Fed Hike, US data, US dollar and ECB. These factors have been repeatedly influencing gold prices since quite some time. Yes I know that we have discussed these points time and again, and we all know that they  keep influencing gold prices but thee way and the extent to which they influence does change every week and hence we once again throw light on this week’s gold’s behaviour-

ECB- On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to maintain its current bond-buying programme and kept interest rates unchanged, surprising investors who had expected another round of quantitative easing in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the single market.

The ECB’s unexpected stance led to a broad-based selloff in the commodities sector, while also fuelling a dollar rally – last trading at 95.45 on the dollar index, the highest point in a week.

Analysts and traders believe that The ECB’s decision would also increase the likelihood of the US Federal Reserve implementing a rate hike before the year end.

Global Data- Meanwhile in a slow data day, US wholesale inventories for July were unchanged, missing expectations of a 0.1 percent rise.

Overnight, China’s August CPI came in at 1.3 percent, below July’s reading of 1.8 percent and market forecast of 1.7 percent.

The Chinese August PPI fell 0.8 percent, improving from a drop of 1.7 percent in July and better than consensus of a one-percent drop. August, however, marked the 54th straight month of decline.

Weak global data pushed gold prices high over the week.

US Dollar- Prices have largely moved in concert with the dollar – against a basket of currencies it recently hit a multi-week low and was last trading at 94.56.  But investment demand in gold and its potential upside remain capped

The combative rhetoric – along with employment claims coming in better-than-expected at 259,000 – led to a minor dollar revival earlier during US trading hours.

Gold has rebounded strongly but have seem too stabilised between $1,355 and $1,375.25 and analysts believe to remain more or less in this trading range. But with the dollar looking weaker, we would not be surprised if gold prices work higher. The rest of the precious metals would follow suit.

Fed Hike- Richmond Fed President Jeffery Lacker said on Wednesday the case for a September hike was going to be “strong” and echoed his colleague Esther George who said that she too saw the US labour market approaching full employment.

Market participants currently see a 21 percent change of a US rate hike in September, with majority expecting it to happen in December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Gold prices will trend higher still in near term, largely driven by lower Fed tightening expectations.  Gold prices are expected to boost further, given that the Fed is unlikely to move in September and the current probability of a September move is likely to ease further.

The Federal Reserve will meet on September 20-21 and again on November 1-2 before the country goes to the polls on November 8. Given the looming presidential election and the forecast-missing jobs report for August, the US central bank is widely expected to hold off on raising rates until next year at the earliest despite increasing hawkish rhetoric from FOMC members.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren, who shifted his stand in recent months in favour of monetary tightening, warned Friday that waiting too long to raise interest rates risks overheating the economy. Higher rates make bullion less competitive against interest-bearing assets. The comments come a day after the European Central Bank played down the prospect of an increase in asset purchases.

In the two-week run-up to the Fed’s next policy meeting, additional US economic data releases will further inform the market’s view of rate hike probabilities. At the current time, the greater likelihood is that there will be no September rate hike. If this continues to be the case, gold could potentially break out above the noted downtrend line and $1350 resistance level. In this event, the next major upside targets are at the mentioned $1375 high, followed by the key $1425 resistance objective.

The primary purpose of this article by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari is to educate the masses of the current happenings in the Bullion world.

Previous blog:
"BULLION MARKET HIGHLIGHTS- DECEMBER 2015- AUGUST 2016: RSBL"
http://riddisiddhibullionsltd.blogspot.in/2016/09/bullion-market-highlights-december-2015.html