Gold Today –Gold closed in New York at $1,268.50 down from Wednesday’s$1,277.70. On Friday morning in Asia it rose to $1,274, as the Yuan steadied against a dollar at yesterday’s levels, before the LBMA price setting in London.

LBMA price setting: $1,275.15 up from Thursday’s $1,268.30.

Yuan Gold Fix

Once again, Shanghai led the way higher after a lower New York close. The Gold Fixing in Shanghai’s morning was $3.60 lower than New York’s close but rose at the afternoon Fix confirming higher demand in Shanghai.

We still need a few days of price disparity to see who’s leading whom.

The gold price is narrowing its trading range but still dominated by exchange rates. It is also possible that both London and New York are not keen to stray far from Shanghai’s trading range either.

With Friday being the busiest day of the week, we will be watching to see if this is so.

Why is Friday the busiest day of the week? It’s because traders don’t just face a risk for one day but for three days, so trim their positions accordingly. For instance, if traders closed short positions and opened long positions to be ready for the weekend, in a market like today’s, where demand and supply are moving into balance, such changes could cause a strong move higher in the gold price and silver prices.

At this point in time the gold price could go either way in a strong move according to the Technical picture, in the very short term.

The dollar index is almost unchanged at 94.33 up from Thursday’s 93.96. The dollar is also almost unchanged against the euro at $1.1348 up from yesterday’s $1.1409.

The gold price in the euro was set at €1,123.68 up from Thursday’s €1,111.67.

Ahead of New York’s opening, the gold price was trading at $1,275.8.00 and in the euro at €1,123.81.

Silver Today –The silver price closed in New York on Wednesday at $17.07 lower than Thursday’s $17.39. Ahead of New York’s opening the silver price stood at $17.12.

Gold (very short-term)

The gold price will consolidate with a slightly stronger bias, in New York today.

Silver (very short-term)

The silver price is still marking time, ready to follow gold’s direction, in New York today.

Price Drivers

As highlighted by the World Gold Council’s first quarter report demand for shares in the gold Exchange Traded Funds was massive and wiped out all the losses suffered in 2014 and 2015. This represents an about turn in U.S. institutional investor’s views on the gold price. This demand is continuing in the second quarter too.

Indeed, more and more U.S. institutional and private investors are turning to gold and silver now, as the global economy’s prospects dim.

In the E.U. an overall growth rate of 0.5% is being heralded as the first real recovery since 2008, topping the figures seen then. We would suggest that this is somewhat of a myopic view to encourage all, but ignores some broad, global fundamentals. If the markets believe the media ‘spin’ we will see a stronger euro. So far we haven’t!

Will the “Brexit” debate affect gold and silver prices? We don’t think they will, until it is certain Britain will leave the E.U. If they don’t, there will be no impact on these prices. If they do, we are being warned of a plunging pound, a U.K. recession and the potential that other countries will leave too. But that is still a month away.

Gold ETFs – Thursday saw purchases of 3.269 tonnes of gold bought into the SPDR gold ETF but nothing into the Gold Trust. This leaves their holdings at 845.189 and 197.78 tonnes in the SPDR & Gold Trust, respectively.

Silver – The Silver price continues stable and keen to move behind the gold price.

Regards,

Julian D.W. Phillips

GoldForecaster.com | SilverForecaster.com | StockBridge Management Alliance