Gold

[Skol]

China is currently going nuts on increasing their Gold production an is now not only the world's biggest buyer of late but now heading for the world largest producer Not for export but for their growing domestic consumption as they are openly telling the public to buy up gold silver for a store of wealth---remember this is the country with a massive war chest of Euro's an USD's

How about supplying some evidence that China is 'going nuts' acquiring gold.
It's a goldbug fantasy.

[stevo1]

Skol questions for you
.Do you or your family own any gold?
I am talking about jewellery here.
If you do is it at least 20karat +.It probably (if indeed you own any) that 9karat ****e that is sold to the western world.
The Asian and Indian races over millenia have bought as close to pure as possible to store their wealth..
It is cashed in and repurchased depending on circumstances but as in the west there is a large amount that is held in perpetuity as heirlooms.
These are the rising middle class nations with rapidly increasing populations
Will they change their traditions with regard to precious metals?
With the rising world populations what does that mean for gold.
Do you know if there is a ounce/person ratio for gold held over time/Has that increased or decreased?
Logic would suggest that (not that there is much logic in sentiment driven investment) people will continue to lust after the golden metal but the price will fluctuate on fear,greed,price,speculation ,conflict and of course supply and demand.
if the price falls too low miners stop mining it when the price gets too high people sell into it and the miners scramble to extract more.However it is getting harder to mine and more expensive (they have to go deeper and deeper) and as El zorro says g/tonne are less and less.
Personally gold for me is PART of asset holding with physical ,gold shares ,property and small amount of cash.

Always looked on it as insurance and like the east if the price gets way over the top I will sell,Question is where is the top.
Possibly a lot higher than now because despite central bank rhetoric (and selling) the price is still looking upwards albeit open to cenral banks speculators and future fund bandits holding up the stage

[Skol]

Don't own any gold, only own liquid assets except for a couple of properties.
My wife has some jewellery but this is more of sentimental nature than something I would sell if the POG went up. If I sold them I'd be in deep s***. I did however buy an ounce of 999 gold for an ex-girlfriend 30 years ago, that's my biggest splash on gold and the last I saw of it by the way.

Ask the punters who owned it in 1980 if it was good 'insurance'.

The only gold I would be tempted to own is an ETF and there was a dire warning about them in last weeks Barrons magazine.
Your assumption that gold will increase in price because of the above reasons is naive as is the assumption that the 'banksters' are holding the goldbugs to ransom.

It's paranoia to say the least and I've yet to see one ounce of evidence the Chinese are buying gold. They own 1054 tonnes which I could fit inside this hotel room.

[shasta]

Don't own any gold, only own liquid assets except for a couple of properties.
My wife has some jewellery but this is more of sentimental nature than something I would sell if the POG went up. If I sold them I'd be in deep s***. I did however buy an ounce of 999 gold for an ex-girlfriend 30 years ago, that's my biggest splash on gold and the last I saw of it by the way.

Ask the punters who owned it in 1980 if it was good 'insurance'.

The only gold I would be tempted to own is an ETF and there was a dire warning about them in last weeks Barrons magazine.
Your assumption that gold will increase in price because of the above reasons is naive as is the assumption that the 'banksters' are holding the goldbugs to ransom.

It's paranoia to say the least and I've yet to see one ounce of evidence the Chinese are buying gold. They own 1054 tonnes which I could fit inside this hotel room.

Skol

There was a news article on TV3 last week showing Chinese buying up Gold in retail stores in a frenzy, they were buying it as soon as it was put out.

The chinese seem hellbent on Gold at the moment (even if its another bubble forming?)

I also received an email from Perth Mint today, they have released more coins - so demand is still there even at $US1,220/oz

[Skol]

Skol

There was a news article on TV3 last week showing Chinese buying up Gold in retail stores in a frenzy, they were buying it as soon as it was put out.

The chinese seem hellbent on Gold at the moment (even if its another bubble forming?)

I also received an email from Perth Mint today, they have released more coins - so demand is still there even at $US1,220/oz

I'll bet they're selling them, to the suckers.
How about some evidence the Chinese Government's buying gold?

[COLIN]

Just to add a bit of fuel to the fire, I see that India's latest growth rate has come out at a whopping 8.6%. Now, I think even Skol would agree that Indian women love to adorn themselves with lots and lots of this shiny, glittering stuff, and their menfolk love showing off their new-found wealth by buying lots and lots of it for them. And what country in the world has the second-largest population?

I remember owning a Krugerand for a few years, somewhere in the 1970's/80's (seems like the 1870'80s!), and did quite well out of it - well, from memory, it at least kept pace with inflation, which was more than could be said for monetary assets at the time.

[shasta]

I'll bet they're selling them, to the suckers.
How about some evidence the Chinese Government's buying gold?

Nothing about the Govt buying just a frenzy with retail investors getting onboard the gold wagon, buying a troy oz at a time etc

Good question though, who is selling it?

[Skol]

Just to add a bit of fuel to the fire, I see that India's latest growth rate has come out at a whopping 8.6%. Now, I think even Skol would agree that Indian women love to adorn themselves with lots and lots of this shiny, glittering stuff, and their menfolk love showing off their new-found wealth by buying lots and lots of it for them. And what country in the world has the second-largest population?

I remember owning a Krugerand for a few years, somewhere in the 1970's/80's (seems like the 1870'80s!), and did quite well out of it - well, from memory, it at least kept pace with inflation, which was more than could be said for monetary assets at the time.

I've just read an article a few minutes ago that says gold demand in India has dropped for the 3rd straight year in a row. Lots of sellers, no buyers.
Indians aren't stupid and won't pay $1200 an ounce. If you don't believe me let me know and I'll copy & paste.

[elZorro]

It appears a poor monsoon last year did depress gold sales, a lot depends on India having a normal monsoon this year. But even now, gold sales are picking up in India and near record levels, depending on which article you pluck out of Google.

Spot gold moved steadily up to peak at 1228 overnight, currently on 1225. It's less volatile, but still showing an upwards trend.

[COLIN]

I've just read an article a few minutes ago that says gold demand in India has dropped for the 3rd straight year in a row. Lots of sellers, no buyers.
Indians aren't stupid and won't pay $1200 an ounce. If you don't believe me let me know and I'll copy & paste.

Someone had better tell the wife of my local dairy owner!

I'm sure that the article you have read is well-founded but, as Elzorro has noted, other current statistics seem to tell a different story.

If the "Indians aren't stupid" then the Chinese must be: read today's email from the Energy and Capital people - www.energyandcapital.com They list three reasons why they believe China's ambition is to corner the world's gold supply:
1. There has been official admission that China has bolstered its gold supplies by more than 70% since 2003 (source quoted)
2. China lifted the moratorium on private ownership of precious metal. The Govt is even strongly encouraging people to put at least 5% of their savings in gold and silver
3. China has prohibited the export of ANY gold bullion.

Now, I don't want to spend countless hours debating the merits or otherwise of holding gold, or gold-linked investments (its a bit like the Arab/Israeli conflict, there are pros and cons for both sides). But, having regard to history, it seems eminently sensible to me to have at least a small portion of one's savings invested in that area, in times of financial turmoil. Physical gold costs money to store and it doesn't earn any interest or dividends, but it does seem to hold its purchasing power. And besides, look at the leverage that can be obtained from owning the right gold-mining shares in times of rising prices of the metal, see OGC for instance.

But obviously, Skol, nothing I can say will ever convince you to change your strongly-held and no doubt genuine views, so I guess we might as well leave it at that.

Enjoy the day!