Precious Metals have Reached an All-time High

By Benjamin Train
Monday, November 21, 2005

Gold and Silver prices have climbed to new heights today, and during the week ending November 19, netting massive gains at an 18-year high bullion market.

Gold may rise to $500 an ounce before the end of the year, for the first time since 1987, as banks and investors purchase more bullion as a hedge against declining currencies, bond markets and U.S. inflation.

Early Overnight trading on Monday, November 21st saw gold at $493.80 US in Sydney. Gold sales are up as the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) is set to open, Tuesday, November 22, 2005. According to the World Gold Council, Gold sales in the UAE went up by 26 percent to hit Dh1.4 billion ($381.2 million) in the third quarter of 2005.

Gold consumption by weight posted a 15% per cent increase in the same period. The Financial Times reported, Dubai boasts 500 tons of gold jewelery traded within it each year, and this week will see the first gold futures contract launched on its electronic exchange. Many gold dealers are awaiting the DGCX's opening to further help bolster the demand for gold Worldwide.

According to MarketWatch.com, "Gold futures added almost $17 an ounce last week with many analysts expecting the metal to surpass the $500 an ounce level before the end of the year and trade above that heading into 2006."

The Silver Association has launched an online petition to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in support of the Barclays' silver ETF. The creation of a silver ETF would promote fair trade. The Association wants a free and open market in silver, and the ability to trade in as many financial vehicles as entrepreneurs wish to issue. The Silver Association was created for the purpose of protecting the interests of silver miners, providers and investors.

Procurement of precious metals at these high prices, will also have a major effect on precious metal mining companies share values, drilling and mining equipment suppliers, project time tables and the feasibility of expanded high grade mineralization projects.

Copper dips as Britain's peak markets regulator follows reports that a rogue commodities traders working for China's State Regulation Centre of Supplies Reserves, had short-sold an estimated 200,000 tonnes of copper in the belief that the price would fall to around $US2500/t.

China is being forced to disclose its holdings of copper for the first time, as the nation seeks to limit losses from a trader's wrong-way bet on a drop in prices.

According to Bloomberg, The Beijing-based State Reserve Bureau, the country's metal stockpiling agency, said on its Web site on Nov. 9, 2005, it would sell 20,000 tons of copper. A week later, it announced another sale of the same amount.

In Beijing, a government spokesman has created further confusionabout the copper market by saying that the trades made by itsemployee, Liu Qibing, were not on behalf of the government.