Gold climbs toward 18-month high; eyes on Fed
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Gold climbed more than 1 percent on Tuesday to trade within striking distance of recent 18-month highs, as a tumbling dollar stirred investment buying ahead of an interest-rate decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
While the market had picked up after briefly falling below $1,000 an ounce on Monday, analysts said some investors remained hesitant to buy aggressively until the Fed announces the outcome of its meeting on Wednesday.
Most are seeking signals the U.S. central bank will keep monetary policy loose well into 2010.
“The market is looking for any sense of a change in speed or direction from the (Fed). If we come past that press conference tomorrow and the market decides its business as usual…it’s another green light to sell the dollar and another up-leg for gold,” said Mitsubishi analyst Tom Kendall.
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE58K2XR20090922
International Monetary Fund to sell over 403 tons of gold
The International Monetary Fund said its executive board endorsed the sale of 403 tons of gold, worth an estimated 13 billion dollars, to boost its lending capacity to poor countries.
The IMF said in a statement the sales would be “in a volume strictly limited to 403.3 metric tons, with these sales to be conducted under modalities that safeguard against disruption of the gold market.”
The 186-nation institution said the decision was a core element of a new income model to make it less dependent on its lending revenue to cover expenses, such as surveillance of members’ economic and financial policies, that the board had approved in April 2008.
The Group of 20 key developed and developing countries, at their April summit in London, agreed the gold sales should allow the IMF to offer favorable conditions on loans to the poorest countries.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/19/international-monetary-fund-to-sell-over-403-tons-of-gold/
IMF gold sale expected to have limited impact on prices
The IMF’s decision to unload more than 400 tonnes of gold is unlikely to have a major impact on the market at a time when prices of the metal are at a near-record high, analysts said Monday.The International Monetary Fund announced Friday that its executive board had endorsed the sale of 403.3 tonnes of gold, worth about 13 billion dollars at current prices, to boost its lending capacity to poor countries.
Gold prices jumped last week to within grasp of record highs above 1,000 dollars per ounce on the back of a weak dollar and mounting economic optimism.
Last Thursday, gold hit 1,024.28 dollars an ounce in London — the best level since March 2008 when it struck a record 1,032.70 dollars.
“The market has been widely expecting the confirmation of the (IMF gold) sales that were first proposed in January 2007,” said Suki Cooper at Barclays Capital.
The IMF move “is short-term negative,” Cooper said, forecasting a “five to 10 percent retracement” in prices.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/IMF_gold_sale_expected_to_have_limited_impact_on_prices_999.html
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