BLBG:Gold May Fall in London on Concern Physical Buying Is Slowing
Gold may fall for the first time in three days in London on concern physical purchases are declining and selling by some investors after the biggest gain in a week.
Jewelers in India, the second-biggest gold buyer in the fourth quarter, extended a strike for an 18th day to protest a levy on non-branded ornaments, the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation said. Gold climbed 0.6 percent yesterday, the most since March 26.
“Physical demand is still a very grey area,” Bernard Sin, head of currency and metal trading at bullion refiner MKS Finance SA in Geneva, said today by phone. “There seems to not be enough interest to support the market. We’ve seen a bit of profit-taking.”
Bullion for immediate delivery was little changed at $1,676.90 an ounce by 11:32 a.m. in London. Prices are up 7.2 percent this year after 11 annual gains. Gold for June delivery was 0.1 percent lower at $1,678.30 on the Comex in New York.
Gold at the morning “fixing,” used by some mining companies to sell output, declined to $1,674.75 an ounce in London from $1,677.50 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing.
About 90 percent of jewelry stores across India were shut today, said Bachhraj Bamalwa, the federation’s chairman. Bullion imports in March may have dropped to 15 metric tons to 20 tons, from 75 tons to 80 tons a year ago, the Bombay Bullion Association said yesterday. Second-quarter imports may slide to 150 tons, from 250 tons a year earlier, it said.
Factory Orders
The dollar was little changed versus the euro before a government report forecast to show U.S. factory orders rebounded in February, which would follow figures yesterday that signaled an acceleration in manufacturing.
The Federal Reserve will release today minutes of policy makers’ March 13 meeting, when they raised their assessment of the economy while repeating that “exceptionally low” interest rates may be needed through late 2014. The central bank bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of so-called quantitative easing from December 2008 to June 2011.
Silver for immediate delivery fell 0.1 percent to $32.9325 an ounce after yesterday reaching $33.23, the highest price since March 14. Palladium gained 1 percent to $662.49 an ounce. Platinum was 0.5 percent higher at $1,659 an ounce.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
