BLBG: Gold Declines in Asia Ahead of G-7 Finance Ministers Meeting
By Feiwen Rong
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Gold declined in Asia on speculation a Group of Seven finance ministers meeting tomorrow may try to support the dollar to stabilize the global financial system, eroding the metal's appeal as an alternative asset.
The dollar dropped 5.9 percent against the Japanese yen this week before today. Central banks in the U.S., U.K., Europe and China cut borrowing costs yesterday to counter the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The dollar advanced against the euro for the first time in three days.
``The G-7 meeting might reach some solution or policy designed to get confidence back into the financial market and to support the U.S. dollar,'' Anderson Cheung, deputy managing director of precious metals at Mitsui Bussan Precious Metals (HK) Ltd., said by phone from Hong Kong. ``Gold might see some pressure ahead of the meeting.''
Bullion for immediate delivery fell $4.38, or 0.5 percent, to $903.27 an ounce at 10:10 a.m. in Singapore, after touching $921.31 yesterday, the highest since Sept. 29. Silver for immediate delivery was up 0.1 percent at $11.7475 an ounce.
The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Canada and Sweden's Riksbank each reduced their benchmark rates by half a percentage point yesterday. The Bank of Japan, which didn't participate in the move, said it supported the action. Switzerland also took part. China's central bank separately cut its key rate 0.27 percentage point.
Equities Decline
The decision came as U.S. stock indexes head for their biggest annual decline since 1937. Japan's benchmark yesterday had the worst drop in two decades.
Still, gold, up 8.6 percent in the past three days, may climb after the G-7 meeting because ``the central banks and governments may not be able to revive confidence in the financial system and people still seek gold as a safe haven,'' said Cheung.
December-delivery gold was little changed at $907.20 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold for August delivery fell 0.5 percent to 2,889 yen a gram ($895 an ounce) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at the 11 a.m. local time break.
To contact the reporter on this story: Feiwen Rong in Singapore at frong2@bloomberg.net