Gold ignored the firm dollar and finished higher on Thursday, as worries over Greek debt levels attracted some safe-haven buying, while soybean futures surged to a seven-week high on the heels of brisk demand in the cash market.
IN FOCUS
- The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at a record of 1,141.041 tonnes as of April 15, unchanged from the previous business day.
- The world's largest silver-backed exchangetraded fund, the iShares Silver Trust, said its holdings fell 67.1 tonnes from the previous business day to 8,958.68 tonnes as of April 15.
- The euro was on the backfoot on Friday, as scepticism about Greece servicing its debt kept it under pressure, while the pound headed lower in early trade on the back of growing worries about a hung parliament in Britain.
- Jewellers in India, the world's largest gold consumer, turned their back on gold as prices held near a four-month high, while selling from holders in other parts of Asia kept premiums under pressure.
- India's gold collection under exchange-traded funds rose 94 percent on year to 9.754 tonnes in March, data from the funds showed.
- Gold producer Jaguar Mining Inc said its firstquarter gold production fell 5 percent, partly hurt by lower grades at its Brazilian mines. For the first quarter, Jaguar produced 31,223 ounces of gold at an average cash operating cost of $595 per ounce, compared with 32,868 ounces at an average cash operating cost of $409 an ounce, a year ago.
- Canada's Alamos Gold Inc said its quarterly gold production fell 10 percent from a year ago, but was in line with its annual production outlook. The company said its Mulatos mine in Mexico produced 41,600 ounces of gold at an expected total cash cost below $338 per ounce.
- Russian reserves gained $1.4 bln in week to April 9, to a 4-month high of $448.6 bln, cementing their status as world's third largest. The main reason for reserves growth were c.bank interventions, amounting to around $3.2 bln in that week, according to Reuters estimates based on dealers' comments.
- Russian miner Polymetal said on Thursday gold output in the first quarter of this year was 100,000 ounces, an increase of 54 percent yearon- year. Polymetal, Russia's top silver miner, produced 4.9 million ounces of the metal in the first three months of the year, 12 percent more than a year ago, a company statement said.
FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK
Gold was steady in early trade session, as safe-haven buying related to worries about Greece's debt crisis helped the metal defy pressure from a rising U.S. dollar. We expect precious metals to trade firm during the day on the back of some weakness is expected in dollar.
