Spot metals dealings in New York opened somewhat lower this morning as profit-taking among specs continued despite a marginally weaker dollar on the trade-weighted index. Gold eased to $1154.40, starting the session off with a $1.60 per ounce loss. Silver fell 7 cents to open at $18.15 per ounce. The euro’s stalled rally was a contributor to this morning’s declines as apprehensions resurfaced regarding how Greece might make use of the 45 billion euro Band-Aid it received over the weekend. Gold is still seen as running into heavy resistance above the $1160-$1165 area and reports that supplies of secondary metal (scrap) have once again made a strong appearance above $1150 appear to bolster the perception that the two-week uptrend may be nearing its "sell by" date. Of course, we will once again be offered ‘explanations’ about putative gold ‘cartels’ wanting to ‘cap’ gold’s advance, because, you know, it’s bad for gold to rise. Say, like what it has done ever since…oh, 2001? This exactly is what the holders of 720 tonnes worth of long positions must be thinking as well, no? A larger, $16 drop was recorded in platinum which opened at $1708.00, while palladium lost $6 to start at the $511 per ounce level. Trading-shop talk was that Anglo-Plat’s revelations that it might be able to produce 200,000 ounces more platinum this year (in a market that saw a 334,000 ounce surplus in 2009) took some of the froth off a market that had hitherto benefited handsomely from lavish, ETF-originated attention. Anglo-Plat’s refined 2009 output was up 3% to more than 2.4 million ounces of the white metal. Rhodium once again remained steady at the $2780.00 per ounce bid mark. Noble metals producers are a relatively happy bunch these days, as global auto sales appear somewhat bubbly. China’s auto sales once again took the lead last month, posting a 56% gain versus the same month a year ago. Japan did not fare badly either, moving nearly 700,000 cars off dealer lots in March. The US also finally had something to brag about as regards moving iron into drivers’ hands. Last month, 1.06 million vehicles were snapped up by US buyers. Not exactly the pace the market needs (it is commonly thought that anything under 14 million units per annum constitutes a ‘car sales recession’ and that perhaps as much as 17 million autos need to find adoptive parents in order for the industry to be considered at ‘healthy’ sales levels) but a good start, to be sure. European numbers are not out yet, but expectations are not as optimistic for that region’s sales. We will learn about all that on Friday.

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