'Safe Haven' Gold Holdings Swell in London, Price Rises as Ukraine Hits Russia
Wednesday, 11/20/2024 16:31
The PRICE of GOLD rose again to 7-session highs on Wednesday, recovering almost half of its Trump Slump since the US election as Ukraine struck Russia with UK-made missiles despite the Kremlin's latest nuclear saber-rattling while Western stock market fell ahead of Q3 earnings report from giant AI chipmaker Nvidia.
Having tripled so far in 2024,
Nvidia's share price (Nasdaq: NVDA) slipped 1.5% while the MSCI World Index of developed-market equities lost 0.5% with its 5th drop in 7 sessions.
"Gold continues to be
the safe haven asset class of choice for both investors and central banks," says institutional money-manager Robeco.
Last month's historic surge – setting 14 new
daily record gold price highs in Euros and UK Pounds, and taking the month-average Dollar price in real terms within 1% of January 1980's all-time high – saw Swiss bullion refineries ship metal into gold's central trading and storage hub of London at
the fastest pace since June 2021, new data showed today.
Separate data show gold holdings in London's commercial vaults grew by 1.2% last month from September's 4-year low to reach 3,352 tonnes.
Bank of England custody of gold for foreign governments and other central banks grew faster, expanding by 1.3% to 5,422 tonnes, the most since July 2022 and 6.3% above last November's 4-year low.
"The official sector, which tends to buy physical gold bars, is
likely to continue adding to reserves for diversification purposes and amid geopolitical tensions and sanctions risks," reckons Swiss bank and London bullion clearing member UBS, projecting end-2025 gold prices of $2900 per Troy ounce.
US investment bank Goldman Sachs made headlines earlier this week predicting $3000 per ounce. French investment bank Natixis sees gold prices flat across next year, because further cuts to US Fed interest rates "are already priced in".
Ukraine today fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia after London followed Washington in removing restrictions on Kyiv, a step which yesterday
provoked the Kremlin to 'update' its nuclear weapons' threat against the West.
The USA meantime vetoed another resolution at the United Nations calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza, while Israel told Lebanon that any ceasefire deal with its northern neighbor must give the IDF "freedom to act" against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Dollar rallied back towards last week's 13-month high on its DXY index against the Western world's other major currencies.
That saw
the UK gold price in Pounds per ounce reach a 2-week high above £2091 while Euro gold prices hit €2515.
Giant gold-backed ETF trust fund the GLD – which holds 97.4% of its 873 tonnes in bullion backing in London – expanded by 0.2% on Tuesday, growing its shares in issue for the 3rd session in a row to the most in almost 2 weeks.
No.2 gold ETF the IAU, which holds its gold-backing entirely in London, did not change at 390 tonnes in size, its largest size since mid-February.
Silver today hit 7-session highs above $31.50 per Troy ounce at the end of Asian trade, but the more industrially-useful precious metal then dropped and dipped through $31 while platinum and
palladium prices also both cut an earlier gain.
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