We use cookies (including third-party cookies such as Google) to remember your site preferences and to help us understand how visitors use our sites so we can improve them. To learn more, please see our privacy policy and our cookie policy.

To agree to our use of cookies, click 'Accept' or choose 'Options' to set your preferences by cookie type.

Options Accept
BullionVault

CHARTS

  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Polski
  • 日本語
  • 简体中文
  • 繁體中文
  • Daily audit
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Deposit
  • Login
  • Open account
  • ABOUT US
    • About BullionVault
    • In the press
    • Reviews
    BUY/SELL BULLION
    • Vaulted gold & silver
    • -Live order board
    • -Daily Price
    • Coins for delivery (UK)
    INVESTMENT GUIDE
    • Guide to gold
    • -How to buy gold
    • -Gold investment
    • -Gold investment plan
    • -Investment insurance
    • -Compare asset performance
    • Guide to silver
    • -How to buy silver
    • Guide to platinum
    • -How to buy platinum
    GOLD NEWS
    • Gold news front page
    • -Gold price news
    • -Opinion & analysis
    • -Market fundamentals
    • -Gold/Silver Investor Index
    • -Infographics
    CHARTS
    • Gold price
    • Silver price
    • Platinum price
    • Price alerts
  • Login
  • Open account
  • BUY/SELL BULLION
  • Vaulted gold & silver
    • ⤷
    • Live order board
    • Daily Price
  • Coins for delivery (UK)
  • INVESTMENT GUIDE
  • Guide to gold
    • ⤷
    • How to buy gold
    • Gold investment
    • Gold investment plan
    • Investment insurance
    • Compare asset performance
  • Guide to silver
    • ⤷
    • How to buy silver
  • Guide to platinum
    • ⤷
    • How to buy platinum
  • GOLD NEWS
  • Gold news front page
    • ⤷
    • Gold price news
    • Opinion & analysis
    • Market fundamentals
    • Gold/Silver Investor Index
    • Infographics
  • CHARTS
  • Gold price
  • Silver price
  • Platinum price
  • Price alerts
  • ABOUT US
  • About BullionVault
  • In the press
  • Reviews
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Daily audit
    • English
    • Deutsch
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Polski
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文

Gold News

Live support

NEED HELP? ASK US NOW

Search form

Gold News front page

Gold Price News

Gold, Silver Fall with Stocks, Inflation Outlook as Covid and Lockdowns Worsen, Pension Rows Hit China and Spain

More...

Gold Investing In Depth

Learn about gold bullion bars

Learn about gold bullion coins (and costs)

Gold investment: Why & how?

Gold Investment Analysis

  • Latest Gold Investor Index
  • Diversification: Gold as investment insurance
  • 40-year Asset Performance Comparison Table

Gold Articles

Opinion & Analysis

Gold Price News

Investment News

Gold in History

Gold Books

Gold Investor Index

Gold Infographics

Archive

  • January 2021 (18)
  • December 2020 (24)
  • November 2020 (23)
  • October 2020 (25)
  • September 2020 (25)
More...

List of authors

Gold Prices Hit 12-Week High as Comex Bears Retreat from Record Short Betting

Monday, 10/15/2018 15:31
GOLD PRICES rose in London trade Monday, touching its highest Dollar price since late-July as world stock markets extended last week's steep falls.
 
Rising to $1233 per ounce, gold prices set multi-month highs against most major currencies, reaching €1065 for Eurozone investors and £936 in Sterling as talks between the UK and European Union again hit the "real problem" of how to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after next March's Brexit.
 
Western government bond prices rallied, pulling long-term interest rates back down from their recent multi-year highs.
 
Italy's cost of borrowing held firm however, keeping the spread above Germany's key Bund rates at more than 300 basis points – a 5-year high when reached at the start of this month following the coalition government's new 2019 deficit spending plans.
 
Betting that the price of Italy's bonds will fall further, driving yields still higher, is now heavier than any time since the "populist" government of right-wing Lega and left-wing M5s politicians took power in June, reports the Financial Times.
 
Net of bullish betting on the gold price meantime, betting among hedge funds and other speculators that the metal would fall grew to a new series record last week, latest data from US regulator the CFTC say.
 
Taken on Tuesday – before Thursday saw the fastest 1-day jump in gold prices since 2016 – the figures put the Managed Money's total short position on Comex gold futures and options at the equivalent of 590 tonnes, just shy of late August's record.
 
Bullish betting among that group of traders meantime fell to the equivalent of 269 tonnes, the lowest since end-2015's six-year lows in the Dollar gold price.
 
Chart of Managed Money's bullish (green) and bearish bets (red) on Comex gold futures and options. Source: BullionVault via CFTC
 
"We believe gold is likely to have received its biggest boost [last week] from short covering," say analysts at German financial services group Commerzbank, noting the record size of the net short position ahead of Thursday's price jump.
 
"If this entire quantity were to be bought back, the gold price would no doubt increase considerably."
 
Over in the currency market, China's Yuan fell and then recovered overnight, touching last week's 17-month lows versus the Dollar, after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he had "productive" talks with Chinese officials at the weekend's IMF and World Bank meetings in Bali, confirming that Beijing doesn't  want to see the currency continue to depreciate.
 
Mnuchin is also "not losing any sleep" he added over claims that Beijing could dump its massive holdings of US Treasury bonds, driving Dollar interest rates higher, as part of the tit-for-tat trade war over import tariffs.
 
"Only moderate demand seen from Chinese traders on the open," says Monday's Asian gold trading note from Swiss refiners and finance group MKS Pamp.
 
With Chinese gold prices at the highest since April, "Volumes were more subdued than last week," MKS adds, noting that the Shanghai premium – over and above comparable quotes for London settlement – remained "fairly stable around $5-6" per ounce.
 
Gold's No.2 consumer nation India could see Rupee gold prices rise another 3% between now and next month's key Diwali festival, reckons Surendra Mehta of the India Bullion & Jewellers Association, pointing to worsening problems for household lenders outside of the regulated banking sector.
 
"Right now, there is no asset class in the market which can give good returns," Mehta says, calling equities and bonds "a bloodbath.
 
"Even the non-banking finance company (NBFC) sector is in crisis."
 
Platinum prices also rose with gold to multi-month highs on Monday, but silver lagged behind, achieving only a 2-week high at $14.75 per ounce.
  • Reddit logo
  • Facebook logo
  • Twitter logo
  • Google logo
  • Yahoo logo
  • LinkedIn logo
  • Digg logo
  • StumbleUpon logo
  • Technorati logo

Adrian Ash is director of research at BullionVault, the physical gold and silver market for private investors online. Formerly head of editorial at London's top publisher of private-investment advice, he was City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning from 2003 to 2008, and is now a regular contributor to many leading analysis sites including Forbes and a regular guest on BBC national and international radio and television news. Adrian's views on the gold market have been sought by the Financial Times and Economist magazine in London; CNBC, Bloomberg and TheStreet.com in New York; Germany's Der Stern; Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore, and many other respected finance publications.

See the full archive of Adrian Ash articles on GoldNews.

Please Note: All articles published here are to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it. Please review our Terms & Conditions for accessing Gold News.

Follow Us

Facebook Youtube Twitter LinkedIn

 

Mobile apps

 - live trading 24/7

 - buy & sell instantly

 - up-to-the-second charts

 

 

 

Daily news email
Go to 'communications settings' 

Get the latest daily gold price news free by email

Latest gold news by email

 

 

 

Gold Investor Index
5 January 2020

Gold Investor Index

Gold investing +58% in NY21

 

 

 

LBMA webinar
21 January 2021

LBMA

London gold trading

 

 

 

International
Investment

16 December 2020

Gold 2021

Gold in 2021

 

 

 

LBMA Alchemist
1 December 2020

Newton

True Gold/Silver Ratio

 

 

 

  •  Email us

Market Fundamentals

  • 'Cut Bullion Duty to Cut Smuggling': India's Gold Industry
  • Platinum Price Hits 4-Year High Even as Electric Beats Diesel Cars in Europe
  • Record Investing Pushes 'Industrial' Silver and Platinum into Deep Deficits
More...
  • Cost calculator
  • Cookies
  • Terms & conditions

©BullionVault Ltd 2005-

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Save your cookie preferences

We use cookies to remember your site preferences, record your referrer and improve the performance of our site. For more information, see our cookie policy.

Please select an option below and 'Save' your preferences.

Save

You can update your cookie preferences at any time from the 'Cookies' link in the footer.

Secure auto-logout warning

You have not been active for some time.

For your security you will be logged out in   minutes unless you take action.