Barry Stuppler

Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong, a proxy for the country’s overall overseas buying, leapt to a record high in September, when monthly purchases matched almost half that for the whole of 2010.

The buying spree follows a sharp drop in the price of the precious metal. After hitting a nominal all-time high of $1,920.30 a troy ounce in September, gold fell to a three-month low of $1,534 an ounce later in the month. Chinese investors snapped up the metal as prices fell....

Whilst many may argue that gold is an inflation hedge and therefore inflation is bullish for gold, in reality the dynamics at play here are not that simple.

In our view, gold is a currency. Therefore fluctuations in its price are largely based on its perceived value relative to other currencies. We would not suggest that its role as an inflation hedge is a primary reason for being long gold, since there are far more direct and efficient ways to hedge against inflation risk in this modern financial environment. We do however see currency devaluation as a primary reason to....

THE ISSUE: The price relationship between gold and platinum reflects continued economic worries, but the historically wide spread of the two metals could signal trading opportunities.

Platinum is about 15 times more rare than gold and usually trades at a premium to the yellow metal. But the greater the worry about the economy, the higher gold trades in relation to platinum.

"The relative performance of these metals is telling us that ....