Daily Market Report 04/24/12

GOLD
Gold’s rally today was a result of positive news from the IMF and continues to trade in the $1,622 to $1,670 per range. $1,670 has shown to be a strong resistance level because it’s the 100 day moving average. At 11am PDT, Gold is up $10.20 per ounce, trading at $1,642.40 per ounce on normal volume.

The two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting is scheduled to kick off later today. Though the Fed is expected to adopt a wait-and-see approach, its comments on possible quantitative easing measures will have a direct effect on the short term price of gold.

The IMF released the latest Central Bank gold holdings data which showed a net increase of approximately 50 tons last month.  The most notable reserve increases, with about 16 tons each, were for Mexico and Russia.  Central Asian nations also caught some attention since they were net purchasers.  The trend of Central Banks diversifying their holdings out of the USD and into gold, has been intact for several years now and should continue in the coming years.

SILVER
Silver has traded between $30.59 to $31.25 in the past 24 hours, still favoring the low side of the trading range.  At 11am PDT, Silver is holding in the $30.80 area, up $0.18 from yesterday at the same time on an average volume of contracts.