Bullion & Business Weekend Report – April 3, 2010

US precious metals rallied during the shortened holiday week. A variety of factors were cited for metal gains, including improved physical demand, increased risk appetite and a lower dollar coupled with surging oil prices — both typically beneficial to gold in particular.

In stocks, major US and European indexes finished with weekly gains, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting fresh 18-months highs.

In New York metals weekly prices, June gold rose $21.80, or 2.0 percent, to end at $1,126.10 an ounce. Silver for May delivery closed to $17.89 an ounce, surging 98 cents, or 5.8 percent. July platinum ended up $79.60, or 5.0 percent to $1,675.60 an ounce.

Although the yellow metal gained 1.7% during the first quarter in 2010 to mark a sixth straight quarterly increase, it fell 0.4% during March. Silver performed better, rising 6.1% in March and 4.0% for the first quarter. Platinum shined the brightest, surging 6.9% last month and 12.8% during the first three months of this year.

"The higher quarterly close is important technically and shows momentum and the medium- and long-term trend remain upward," Mark O’Byrne, the executive director of broker GoldCore Ltd. in Dublin, said on Bloomberg. "The slow, steady and gradual rise of gold in recent quarters also contradicts the commonly held view that gold is a speculative bubble."

"Fresh fund buying to start the new month and new quarter was featured Thursday," wrote Jim Wyckoff of Kitco News."A lower U.S. dollar index and higher crude oil prices again supported buying interest in the precious metals Thursday. Gold also continues to see good physical demand, especially from China."

In weekly London bullion prices, gold was fixed to $1,123.50 an ounce, rising $27.00, or 2.5 percent. Silver jumped 84 cents, or 5.0 percent to $17.69 an ounce. Platinum settled at $1,660.00 an ounce, gaining $64.00, or 4.0 percent.

For March, London gold advanced 0.7%, silver soared 8.6% and platinum surged 7.3%. During the first quarter, gold rose 1.0%, silver climbed 3.0% and platinum jumped 12.2%.

Gold is "benefiting from the beginning of the quarter with new fund money and fresh buying coming in," Jesper Dannesboe, senior commodity strategist at Societe Generale, said on Reuters. "Also increasing is the number of investors and speculators thinking that ‘the base metals are going higher so maybe there’s some upside in gold’."

"The pivotal market item" — Friday’s US employment data — "will be met with a closed trading floor. Resistance in gold remains in place overhead at the $1130-$1135 levels," wrote Jon Nadler, senior analyst at, writes Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc.

To follow are silver, gold and platinum performance charts, oil news, week-ending stocks, and precious metal article summaries.

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum

(March 26 – April 1)

The London Fix is one of the most used bullion quotes around the world. The London AM fix for gold and platinum begins at 10:30am GMT (5:30am in New York), and the PM fix begins at 3pm GMT (10am in New York). The London Fix for silver begins each business day at 12pm GMT (7am in New York).

London Fix Precious Metals Prices

World Business Weekly News: Oil, Gasoline, and Stocks Prices

Oil prices rallied for a fourth straight day on Thursday, the last trading day of the week, "after upbeat U.S. economic data signaled better oil demand ahead, prompting fund buying as the new quarter began," reported Gene Ramons of Reuters.

"People are taking every opportunity to buy oil and push it up higher," Gerrit Zambo, a trader at Bayerische Landesbank in Munich, commented on Bloomberg. "It is simply due to the positive market sentiment overall and also due to equities and the technical situation."

The recent run up in prices "clearly demonstrates the market’s ability to draw investment dollars," said Tim Evans, an energy analyst with Citi Futures Perspective in New York, in a report cited on MarketWatch.

"Prices may be far from their $147.27 peak of July 2008, but this process of soaking up speculative money is similar to the bubble that formed then. Some variation of the sell-off to $34.20 in December 2008 seems increasingly likely to follow … The fundamental impacts of higher prices are bearish, not bullish."

On Thursday, New York crude oil for May delivery gained $1.11, or 1.3 percent, to $84.87 a barrel — the highest price since Oct. 9, 2008. Oil soared 6.1 percent for the week, 5.1 percent in March and 5.5 percent during the first quarter — a fifth consecutive quarterly increase.

Prices at the pump jumped eight-tenths of a cent between Friday and Saturday. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.820 a gallon, according to a AAA fuel report. The price is 1.4 cents higher than last week, 11.4 cents more than a month back, and 77.9 cents above that of a year ago.

In US stocks on Thursday, the Dow and S&P 500 registered new 18-months highs. The Nasdaq advanced slightly.

Stocks were higher "through the early afternoon as investors welcomed reports showing the pace of job losses is slowing and manufacturing is picking up both in the U.S. and abroad. But the advance lost steam as investors stepped back in the last few hours before a long holiday weekend," wrote Alexandra Twin of CNNMoney.com.

"Manufacturing numbers are pretty strong," Philip Dow, the Minneapolis-based director of equity strategy at RBC Wealth, which oversees $164 billion, said on Bloomberg. "You’ve got profound operational leverage and costs are pretty low. If you have any kind of resilience in the sales line, you’re going to see better-than-expected corporate earnings."

For the week, the Dow gained 0.7 percent, the S&P climbed 1.0 percent and the Nasdaq advanced 0.3 percent.

For March, the Dow climbed 5.1 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 5.9 percent and the Nasdaq surged 7.1 percent.

For the first quarter, the Dow ended up 4.1 percent, the S&P 500 finished 4.9 percent higher and the Nasdaq ended up 5.7 percent.

Thursday closing figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow gained 70.44 points to close at 10,927.07.

• The S&P advanced 8.67 points to finish at 1,178.10.

• The NASDAQ rose 4.62 point to end at 2,402.58.

And in other world markets:

• The German DAX gained 82.01 points to close at 6,235.56.

• The Paris CAC 40 ended up 60.22 points to close at 4,034.23.

• The London FTSE 100 rose 65.25 points to finish at 5,744.89.

For the week, the DAX finished higher by 1.9 percent, the CAC 40 rose 1.1 percent and the FTSE 100 climbed 0.7 percent.

Bullion and Business Articles

In related bullion, business and United States Mint news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• Bully – Jon Nadler, Kitco Metals Inc.
  Gold prices held steady in the $1110-$1120 range overnight, but then again, so did the US dollar near the 81-mark on the index, while the euro followed suit and parked just under the 1.35 level once again. Dowry-related Indian demand was noted in the overnight hours, but little else was on offer in the market news flows on this first day of April ahead of tomorrow’s (and Monday’s) market closures.

  Gold opened with a $2.40 gain at $1116.00 per ounce in New York amid fast-thinning participation. As yesterday, we cannot rule out out-sized moves for later in the day, but the pivotal market item –tomorrow’s US employment data– will be met with a closed trading floor, thus it’s all going to be a bit of an anticipatory day in nature. Resistance in gold remains in place overhead at the $1130-$1135 levels …

• American Silver Eagle Coins Rally in March, Capping U.S. Mint Quarterly Sales Record
  2010 American Silver Eagle bullion coins surged during the start and toward the end of March, capping the best United States Mint quarterly sales since the coin series debuted in 1986.

  The latest sales figures, however, do not bode well for 2010-dated collector proof and uncirculated versions of the Silver Eagles. Collector coins carry the "W" mint mark, which is unlike the bullion versions that are available now and must be produced by the U.S. Mint in quantities to meet public demand. As long as that demand remains at unprecedented levels, this year’s collector options are at risk of cancellation as happened to the 2009s …

• US Mint Sales: Coin Demand Rises, Silver Coins Surge
  The newly released Boy Scouts Silver Dollars were off to the races earning headlines, but other United States Mint coins picked up in pace also last week according to the latest sales report.

  Demand trended higher, with silver coins making the most noise as every US Mint silver product clamored with week-over-week gains.

  The 2010 Boy Scouts coins reached 214,673 in less than a week. Collectors purchased 144,732 proofs and 69,941 uncirculated dollars. With a touch over 61% of the total allotted 350,000 mintage accounted for, it would appear these commemoratives are destined for a sell out.

  The 2010 Disabled American Veterans Silver Dollars rallied to outperform their last weekly gains. Proofs advanced 10,007 versus 9,098 and the uncirculated option improved 4,677 compared to 3,334. The nearly five week sales total stands at 181,052 …