Tuesday 27 March 2012

1.8% error in ETF Securities' physical gold ETFs PHAU and PHGP?

There was a near 2% drop in the price of ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) on Tuesday that didn't appear to correspond with the spot price of gold. The drop happened after a large trade of the ETF for the day (an automatic sell order  of 11,000 shares worth around £1.8 million).


Tuesday 20 March 2012

iShares physical gold ETF spreads shot above 3%

Weekly ETF trading data from the London Stock Exchange show that physical gold ETFs make up the majority trading in exchange traded products and that spreads -  the difference between the buying and selling price of shares - for one of these physical gold ETFs rose above 3% at the beginning of the year.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Gold ETFs snapped-up in London on Thursday

Despite increasing fears that the gold price will fall further shares in UK physical gold exchange traded funds (ETF) were being snapped up on Thursday - with £60 million in net buying via automatic trades. After the London Stock Exchange closed the spot price of gold carried on upwards and is now trading around $1,658 or £1,056 after hitting $1641 lows earlier in the day.

Monday 12 March 2012

Gold on Monday night 12 March

Not a very inspired go at a market report, just for my own reference. The price of gold was around $1,704 per ounce £1,089 on Monday night.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Source physical gold ETF SGLD vs PHAU - cheaper, growing fast

Today I tried a bit of research on the size of gold ETFs traded on the London Stock Exchange and on the spreads investors are likely to see (with a helping hand from Index Universe).

The process reveald a few more physical gold ETFs than I expected but most of them were pretty small compared to PHAU, GBS and Source (SGLD), although I couldn't always find their assets under management.

Gold breaks $1,700, no CDS showdown?

Sitting here in my Hackney flat relying on free news, Google Finance and free gold spot price charts from the likes of BullionVault I'm wondering why gold is moving up before the Greek deal.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Greece and gold on Thursday 8 March

National, regional and global events are difficult to understand in their own right let alone slot into a gold price forecast.

This BBC explanation of the Greek debt crisis says the crucial deal needed with private bond holders is due this (March 8) evening. If less than 90% of bond holders agree to it then we should expect further delays and extra drama as Greece contemplates enacting a compulsory version of the deal - which could trigger default insurance policies (credit default swaps). But something has to happen soon as a big payment is due on March 20.

This morning (1am) gold was around $1,684 per ounce and £1,071 in sterling. This slight gain over Tuesday's and Wednesday's lows was down to positive feelings about the Greek deal. Reuters reported Bill O'Neill, partner at commodities investment firm LOGIC Advisors, saying: "Gold is up because there is growing evidence that there will not be a hard default in Greece."

Will that sentiment hold through tomorrow?

In the same Reuters piece Suki Cooper at Barclays  Capital said: "Although the macro environment is still very gold-supportive, in the nearer term it's going to be the physical market and whether that enables prices to consolidate enough so that investment demand can retake the reins."

Most analysts quoted in this BullionVault piece also say gold is still more likely to fall further.

It quotes UBS analyst Edel Tully saying physical buyers needed "in size... otherwise further downside seems inevitable". Axel Rudolph at Commerzbank saying "further weakness to be seen in the coming months, taking gold towards the $1,600/$1,500 region."

Today total buys for PHAU on the London Stock Exchange were around £8.3 million and sales were £13.3 million compared to yesterday's £13.6 million-worth of buys and £23.1 million of sales.

Before the outcome of the private bond deal investors will have the MPC rate setting and the ECB rate and press conference. And on Friday there  are the US non farm payrolls.

Brad Zigler on increasing correlation between stocks and gold.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Net £16m of physical gold ETFs sold on LSE on Tuesday March 6 2012

Total sales - I think - of physical gold ETFs on the London Stock Exchange today were worth £40.6 million while total purchases came to £24.6 million = net sales of £16 million.

(Correction) £8 million PHAU gold ETF sale at 9.44 am

It may not compare to the 31 tonnes of gold futures sold on 29 February after Ben Bernanke's speech -  but this morning someone sold an £8m lump of PHAU shares on the London Stock Exchange.

I bought gold before it dropped below $1,690

On Monday morning I bought 10 gold shares -  the ETF Securities Physical Gold exchange traded fund shares with the London Stock Exchange symbol of PHAU. (LSE shows there were two £8m PHAU sales today at around 9.44am)

Thursday 1 March 2012

Rebound... sort of

This morning Reuters said: "Asia's physical gold market witnessed a buying frenzy as jewellers, traders and investors rushed to take advantage of the nearly $100 drop in prices overnight, helping to boost prices."