Commodities » Precious Metals

Gold and silver daily review (March 22, 2010)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

Gold fell toward $1,100 an ounce on Friday, losing nearly 2 percent after an interest rate hike in top gold consumer India, and investors cashed in gains from earlier this week ahead of the weekend.

IN FOCUS

- The world's largest gold-backed exchangetraded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,115.511 tonnes as of March 19, unchanged from the previous business day.

- The world's largest silver-backed exchangetraded fund, the iShares Silver Trust, said its holdings stood at 9351.40 tonnes as of March 19, unchanged from the previous business day.

- The euro fell to its lowest in more than two weeks against the U.S. dollar on Friday, also pressured by weakness in equities. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 0.5 percent, on track to snap an eightsession winning streak.

- Aurizon Mines Ltd posted a quarterly profit, helped by gains from higher gold prices, but said expects gold production from a key mine to dip in 2010.

- The Canadian gold producer sees production of about 145,000-155,000 ounces in 2010, compared with 159,261 ounces in 2009, at its Casa Berardi mine, hurt by lower average gold grades, especially in the first part of the year, it said.

- Total official sector gold holdings stood at 30,190.10 tonnes as of March 2010, up 1.7 percent from 29,691.7 tonnes in a similar report dated March 2009, data released by the World Gold Council showed.

- The United States remained the biggest holder of gold, with 8,133.5 tonnes or 26.9 percent of total official sector gold holdings. Its holdings are steady from the previous March.

- Barrick Gold Corp's Misquichilca mine, which represents 26 percent of Peru's gold production, saw its gold output shoot up 69 percent in February from a year earlier

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Gold declined further in early trading in early trade session as investors sold into a stronger U.S. dollar on financial uncertainties over debt-laden Greece. We expect dollar to strenghten further during the day which is likely to pressurize precious metals. Selling on rise is recommended during the day.