English• Dollar continues to fall
The price of gold yesterday reached a new all-time high, going to USD 1,200/ounce, on the New York market, in reaction to the depreciation of the dollar.
The price of gold for February climbed by USD18,20 (1.5%) yesterday morning, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, going to USD1,200.50/ounce. At 08:21 a.m., the price had dropped slightly, to 1,192.10 dollars/ounce. The spot price for gold climbed to USD 1,199.43 / ounce. Since the beginning of the year, gold has gained 35%.
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) said its holdings stood at 1,130 metric tons of gold as of Nov. 30, with the highest level since June 24th, 2009. The gold holdings of SPDR Gold Trust was reached on June 1st, 2009: 1,134.03 tons.
Demand for gold is also extremely high for central banks. India and Mauritius also bought gold from the IMF, while Russia and China increased their holdings.
The price of silver yesterday rose 1.2%, to USD 18.7125 ounce; the price of platinum - went up 1.1%, to 1,470.20 dollars an ounce. while palladium rose 4.5%, to USD 382.25 ounce.
• The dollar continues to depreciate
The American currency yesterday depreciated on the foreign markets, after Dubai announced it is negotiating the rescheduling of its debts with its creditors. Under the circumstances, investors turned away from dollars and bought stocks.
The dollar was quoted at 1.5089 units/Euro at 8:25 a.m., on the New York market, up from 1.5005 yesterday. The US Dollar lost 1.9% against the Euro, in November, for the fifth straight month in a row. The last time the dollar experienced a similar decline was in December 2004.
Last week, Dubai struck a blow to investor confidence all over the world, after announcing it would ask for the rescheduling of the debt of one of the companies tied to its government.
Dubai is asking for a moratorium of at least six months concerning the payment of the debt of the "Dubai World" conglomerate, which caused financial rating agencies "Moody"s Investors Service" and "Standard & Poor"s" to cut the ratings of companies which are part of the group.
"Dubai World" owes over USD 59 billion and has requested the postponing of its debts coming due until after May 30 2010. Yesterday, "Dubai World" has begun discussions for the restructuring of a USD 26 billion debt.
• In Romania, gold costs 107 lei/gram
According to data published on the NBR website, a gram of gold is currently worth 107 lei, after logging the largest rise in the last few months from 90 lei/gram. BCR, the only retail bank which sells gold, displayed a price of 74.9 lei/gram on Monday, 30% below the price of the NBR.
"Over 60% of Romania"s gold reserves are located abroad, and are not easy to get at", said analyst Călin Rechea, who mentioned that since its quality isn"t known, the quality of the gold in store isn"t known, it is difficult to estimate the value of the gold reserve stored domestically.
According to the report of the National Bank published near the end of H1 2009, Romania"s gold reserves remained steady at 103.7 tons, meaning it was worth 2.22 billion Euros at the time.
Investors use gold as a means to hedge against inflation, and to protect their investments.
Izabela Sîrbu
Euro
Dolar SUA
Franc elveţian
Liră sterlină
Gram de aur
