Gold price info - week ending June 22

Gold spot price ranges
USD: 661.90 – 649.30
NZD: 874.00 – 855.00
NZDUSD: .7650- .7525

A busy week – the Reserve bank has again intervened with the exchange rate locally, it doesn’t appear to be having much impact however with record highs recorded on the NZDUSD cross. This of course makes it a good time to look at buying gold in New Zealand dollars, as the high exchange rate suppresses the price.

Gold movements: The stronger US dollar and US Treasury bonds have kept the price fairly static, there is currently a strong support above $650/oz and we’ve seen a period over $660 later in the week. The long term prognosis is still quite positive with demand being predicted high enough to easily absorb the future sales by the Central bank (Swiss Natural bank selling 250 tonnes for example).
Oil prices have also played a part - with the crude prices dropping back below $70/barrel with the strike in Nigeria not expected to have a large impact on the market.

A labour strike in the gold mines in South Africa has been postponed until after talks are held on July 2. The labour demands are for 15% wage increase as well as 61 other demands. This could have quite an impact so would be well worth watching.

The lower prices seen over the last month are being viewed as a consolidation period, prior to another bullish growth period in the gold market. With the increase in investor interest towards Gold and Silver, and the demand for alternative investments increasing, there is a positive attitude to the medium and long term view for the strength in the precious metals.

Following on from last weeks article about Egypt reviving some of their Gold mines -
Clue to Egypt's Gold Source Discovered

Gold price info - week ending June 15

Gold spot price ranges
USD: 654.60 – 643.95
NZD: 884.00 – 859.00
NZDUSD: .7628 - .7465

A quiet week on the gold news front, with the main drivers being the New Zealand Reserve bank impact on the dollar on Monday, and the US Treasury Bonds becoming flavour of the week again.

The latter half of the week has seen the oil price rise again, primarily because of concerns in the US gasoline supplies. This has brought the Gold price back up over the $650 mark, and the Euro strengthening slightly against the Greenback helping. It has been noted that recently the strength of the Euro vs. the Greenback has been a good indicator of the gold price movement, as the Euro strengthens investor move out of US$ holdings and into gold. This is a fairly recent occurrence but interesting none the less.

Central bank sales: The Swiss National Bank has announced that it will be selling 250 Tonnes of Gold from its reserves by the end of September 2009, but they have chosen an approach that will avoid market unrest.

Supply and demand are still factors in the long term price: Dubai imported 15% more gold in the first quarter of this year than in 2006.

Old gold is good gold: In some instances after 2000 years of inactivity Egypt is reopening gold mines to revive their gold industry. Reuters Link

Invisible braces: Need braces for your teeth? How about Invisible Gold braces
WGC article