Catching a falling knife attempt: buying more BlackRock Gold and General

Today I invested another £250 into the BlackRock Gold and General fund despite it's dreadful performance. To invest I had to place the order before 8am and the transaction went through at midday.


Where my holding stood yesterday

I've already invested £2,250 into this fund. Unfortunately - judged on yesterday's unit price - my investment has lost 20% of its value (£466) since I started buying. What remains had a value £1783.48 as of yesterday.

BlackRock Gold and General: -10% in a week -40% from 2011 peak

The performance of my BlackRock Gold and General fund holdings has been dire.  It is down around 10% this week and nearly 40% since it's peaks in September 2011.

The 25% drop over the last year appears almost reasonable next to these two figures!

Over the year:

Why does Fresnillo price jump at the end of trading?

The share price of silver miner Fresnillo can leap more than 3% at the end of the day as it did on 8 May 2012 and 4 May 2012. I think it happens quite often - although it didn't happen today.

On 4 May it jumped from 1500p to 1546p or 3%.

On 8 May it jumped from 1396 to 1449 or 3.7%.

I bought gold today

On the London Stock Exchange it looked like Physical Gold ETFs were being bought.
The busiest was Source (SGLD) with £67 million bought vs £66 million sold.

Fear mismatch? 10 month low for Sterling gold ETF not 4 month

I suppose this should be seen as a good thing -another proper buying opportunity for gold. But the reason it's a buying opportunity is because it's scary and I'm not immune to that fear.

However there is a mismatch, the media chat about impending huge falls in the gold price is nothing like it was back in December 2011 - at least not yet - but I think it's because in dollar terms the lows still aren't below the December 28 $1,523 low.

Sterling gold falls under £1000 oz for first time since 2011

The price of gold has fallen below £1000 per ounce (oz) today the lowest its been since 2011.

Gold spot price over the last six hours

According to the gold spot price provided by BullionVault while gold was selling at just above $1,600 per oz the sterling price fell to just over £992 per oz (later under £990 as per chart above).

Are Hackney's streets lined with gold?

Three new 'cash for gold'/pawnbrokers have opened up next to the Pembury Estate in Hackney since the riots in the borough last year. This means there are now seven stores offering to buy and sell gold on Hackney Central's high street the Narroway. 

The newest players in this gold rush are TGS Pawnbroker (pictured above) which looks up Clarence Road, the scene of pitched battles with the police in August last year. 

Should gold cost £112 or 2p for grassroots investors?

A "grassroots" gold investor in the UK would have to pay a minimum of £112  to get on the bottom rung of the gold investment ladder.

Meanwhile a grassroots gold investor in India could pay less than 2p per day to make a gold investment.

Indian gold ETF sees first conversion of shares into gold

"Last week, we also made a first physical delivery of gold against the ETF. Ashok Dhamnaskar, an investor from Mumbai, has become the first investor to convert gold ETF units to physical gold on Thursday, April 12, 2012.” Nitin Rakesh, CEO of Motilal Oswal Asset Management told Business Standard on April 18.

Indian Gold ETF that swaps shares for gold boosted by festival

The amount of gold sold during yesterday's gold buying festival in India was a disappointment according to Reuters: Prices, inflation dent gold demand on Akshaya Tritiya

That was in the traditional physical markets. But sales in the physical gold ETF market soared as trading costs were waived. The biggest percentage rise (although from a lower base than its larger peers) was seen by the only ETF that gives its investors the option to convert ETF shares into gold.

Sterling gold lowest since 2011: no buyers?

Gold valued in pounds Sterling fell below its lowest (closing) level this year to around $1,010 per ounce today for UK ETF investors. Despite this UK gold ETF investors were mainly sellers.

Indian Gold ETFs promoted as jewellery demand drops

Physical demand will drive the price of gold but news from India - the largest and most watched market is not entirely encouraging.

While the Akshaya Tritiya festival will lift jewellery demand, analyst Marc Ground at Standard Bank said "the pace of demand is not to the extent that we expected" (reports BullionVault)

But financial gold could still get a boost as the Indian gold exchange traded fund market continues to grow fast and India's National Stock Exchange will reportedly waive transaction fees on physical gold ETFs and extend trading hours on April 24.

It happened in May last year and again in October, the latter prompting the heaviest gold ETF buying day ever on the exchange.

Despite expectations that new taxes and higher gold prices will dampen demand some ETF providers expect more people to use ETFs.

JPM's Blythe Masters vs Ted Butler on silver (and gold)

"That's wrong and we don't do it" is what Blythe Masters told CNBC when she was asked about the bank's massive short position in the silver futures market and whether it was manipulative. Her argument was that all the short positions are part of a hedging mechanism for metal held by their clients.

The veteran silver analyst Ted Butler  - the main force behind four investigations into silver manipulation allegations by the US regulator (CFTC) -disagrees. He questions the need for the bank to hedge in the futures market when it is a big player in the OTC market.

Capital Economics: India's gold lending = gold standard?

All eyes are on the Indian government's attempts to reduce gold imports and tackle a growing trade deficit but with 18,000 tonnes of gold already within it's borders could there be unexpected consequences?

I bought gold yesterday

Despite a great deal of uncertainty about my investment rationale, I bought some gold yesterday afternoon. I did it without consulting previous agonies over action vs inaction or anything else other than the price had  fallen below a level that had caused me to think about it earlier in the day.