While carry trades in the forex markets and complicated derivative plays are still dominating the price setting of gold and silver, I keep on looking for events that may break the suffocating status quo and give us some fresh air. After all, this market is getting more boring by the day.

And it so happened I found a small indication that India is becoming less effective in maintaining its foothold on the restriction of (legal or illegal) physical gold imports into the country. Neighbour Pakistan is also part and parcel of the Indian import restrictions, whether they want it or not.

" ISLAMABAD:

The government has imposed 5% customs duty on import of cotton yarn in an attempt to support domestic industries and decided to lift a ban on gold import that had been slapped last year to save foreign currency reserves and discourage its smuggling to India."

"The ECC also decided to lift the ban on the import of gold and gold jewellery, but tightened regulations for the importers aimed at discouraging smuggling to India. Under fresh regulations, imports in any one month are restricted to a maximum of 10 kg per exporter."

http://tribune.com.pk/story/697031/decisions-ecc-scraps-ban-on-gold-import/