Daily Market Report 7/18/12

GOLD

No firm statement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on a near term monetary stimulus, plus a stronger U.S. Dollar has led to a lower Gold price today. Also, Gold reached $1,598.80 per ounce yesterday; at that point we saw heavy short selling and profit taking it the market. I am disappointed that Gold could not break through the very important $1,600 per ounce resistance level.  On the bullish side, Gold’s trading range is narrowing, from $1540/$1620 to $1,560/$1,600, which provides a strong base for the next upward price breakout.  At 11am PDT, Gold is trading at $1,573.50 per ounce, down $18.50 per ounce on active volume.

The Perth Mint announced that its 2012 Australian Kangaroo 1-ton Gold $1,000,000 coin has been awarded the title of the largest coin in the world by Guinness World Records. The Perth Mint took this honor from the former title holder, the Royal Canadian Mint, who had held the record for five years with its Maple Leaf 100-kilogram Gold $1,000,000 coin.

 
SILVER

Silver tested $27 per ounce, reaching $26.81 per ounce in Asia this morning. At that point, as in the recent past, we saw increasing demand which drove the price back up to $27.44. At 11am PDT, Silver is trading at $27.15 per ounce, down $0.32 per ounce.  

Today China has proposed to expand trading of precious metals from designated exchanges to the country’s vast interbank market soon, a move that is set to increase liquidity and help Beijing gain stronger global pricing power for key commodities like Gold. China is already the world’s largest Gold consumer and producer, and has long been hoping to become the next major Gold trading center after London and New York.