Gold Prices Flat Amid 'Extreme Complacency' Over Greek Debt Crisis
Monday, 6/08/2015 15:32
GOLD PRICES held flat near multi-month lows Monday in London as Western stock markets slipped amid new calls to resolve the "urgent" Greek debt crisis 5 years after it began.
"Every day counts," said German chancellor Angela Merkel.
"All I can say now is that we want Greece to remain part of the Eurozone."
"There is an end-June deadline," said French president Francois Hollande, also speaking at the G7 summit in the Alpine resort of Schloss Elmau, referring to June 30th's total repayment of €1.6 billion now due to the International Monetary Fund.
"We
don't believe in Plan B's," said Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis when asked if Athens will default and leave the Eurozone at the end of this month, but the bail-out lenders must make a more "serious offer" than the deal rejected last week, he said.
"I don't want to see [Grexit] either," said European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, but Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has repeatedly failed to deliver new proposals to the lenders, he told journalists, and
effectively lied to the Athens parliament when dismissing the lenders' latest offer on Friday.
Greek bond yields rose to 1-month highs Monday as the Athens stock market dropped 2.5%.
Major European equities lost 0.5% on average, with German, French and Italian bond yields also creeping higher as debt prices fell.
"Gold remains out of favor from global market participants," says one London bullion bank trader today, pointing to "lack of inflation [and] expectation of US rate hike" for why money managers are shunning bullion.
"There may be some rotation into gold," adds the latest
Metal Matters from London market maker Scotia Mocatta, "if other asset classes start to correct – bonds have dropped, but equities haven't yet."
What's more, the monthly note goes on, "The market is extremely complacent over Greece. Any shock could have a bullish impact on gold."
Greece's lenders, "late last year, decided to load one more dollop of austerity onto a conservative-socialist coalition that could not deliver it," writes UK TV station Channel 4's economist Paul Mason.
"Result: Marxist government. What if they now load one more dollop of austerity onto a Marxist government that cannot deliver it?" Mason goes on, reporting
an anarchist riot he witnessed in Athens on Friday.
Across the border in Turkey – formerly gold's No.4 largest consumer nation – the Lira fell to new record lows as the BIST30 stock index fell 5.5% Monday morning after the ruling AKP party lost its majority hold on the parliament in Ankara in yesterday's elections.
Gold priced in Turkish Lira has now risen within 3% of 2011's all-time highs, badly denting gold demand in Turkey.
China's main stock markets rose in contrast today, despite news that imports into the world's second-largest economy sank almost 18% last month from May 2014.
Trading volumes at the Shanghai Gold Exchange rose to 3-week highs, but remained well over 25% below the last 6 months' average as prices ended the day just $1.20 per ounce above comparable London quotes, deterring new imports.
"We did notice solid Chinese interest as the on-shore premium moved to around $3.50," says the Asian trading desk at refining and finance group MKS.
For global benchmarks, Friday's Dollar-price low at $1163 per ounce "should provide broad short-term support," says MKS, "while $1180 will be met with some resistance."
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