By Glenys Sim
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell for a fourth day in Asia and headed for its second weekly decline as the rising dollar and a slump in equities curbed investor demand for the precious metal.
Gold is down 8.4 percent this week as the dollar rose to a 23-month high against the euro and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slumped to a 5 1/2-year low. Investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, has stalled after reaching a record 770.6 tons on Oct. 10. Holdings fell to 747.1 million tons, according to the trust's Web Site.
``The decline in the gold price is not only linked to a further strengthening in the U.S. dollar but also evidence that physical buying of gold via ETFs is beginning to fade,'' Deutsche Bank AG analysts led by Michael Lewis wrote in a weekly report e- mailed today. ``Given the ongoing appreciation in the U.S. dollar, we estimate fair value for gold to be between $600-$620 an ounce.''
Gold for immediate delivery fell 0.5 percent to $718.08 an ounce at 10:15 a.m. in Singapore after earlier rising as much as 1.1 percent. The metal fell below $700 yesterday for the first time since September 2007. Silver for immediate delivery fell 0.7 percent to $9.61 an ounce.
Yen Gains
The dollar rose to $1.2822 versus the euro at 10:15 a.m. in Singapore from $1.2934 yesterday. Against the Japanese currency it fell to 96.73 yen from 97.31 yen late yesterday. The yen may strengthen 8 percent by March 2009 to 90 yen per dollar as investors dump higher-yielding assets funded in Japan and bring their cash home, according to Barclays Capital.
Gold for December delivery rose 0.5 percent to $718.50 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold for August delivery in Tokyo dropped 2.1 percent to 2,212 yen a gram ($713 an ounce) at the 11 a.m. local time break.
To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net
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