Russia BUYING Gold!

http://in.reuters.com/article/fundsNews/idINGEE5AM1A020091123

MOSCOW, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank gold stocks rose by 0.5 million ounces (15.6 tonnes) or by 2.6 percent in October to 19.5 billion ounces (606.5 tonnes), data on the bank's web site www.cbr.ru showed.
Russia's central bank has said it aims to increase gold's share in its reserves this year [ID:nLG124285] to keep its investments diverse. The metal is also seen as a safe-haven at times of financial market turbulence and economic crisis -- a status which has helped send the price of gold XAU= to record highs this year. [ID:nGEE5AM0FB]
The web site said the total value of gold in the bank's stocks rose to $20.4 billion at Nov. 1 from $18.8 billion a month earlier. Gold made up 4.7 percent of Russia's total gold and foreign exchange reserves -- the world's third largest -- which stood at $434.43 billion at the start of November.
A source in the Russian state precious and metals repository Gokhran said the gold did not come from its stocks.
The central bank was not immediately available for comment.
Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said last week Gokhran, subordinated to the ministry, will sell 30 tonnes of gold to the central bank this year. [ID:nLI200517]
The central bank had been steadily building its gold stocks this year from 16.7 million ounces on Jan. 1, 2009.
The largest monthly increase this year -- of 0.6 million ounces -- took place in July, when stocks rose to 18.3 million ounces from 17.6 million.
In September Russia's gold stocks were the world's ninth-largest. [ID:nSP482249]
The central bank's reserves include gold, foreign currency and Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset that is essentially a currency of the International Monetary Fund, and some other assets. (Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys and Polina Devitt; Editing by Keiron Henderson) ((aleksandras.budrys@reuters.com; +7 495 775 1242; Reuters Messaging: aleksandras.budrys.reuters.com@reuters.net))

 

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they get some shock if gold dropped by half
not likely
dave
ps
you never know

 

Ha! $434 billion, thats about half of what we 'lost' to TARP.

 

Since I don't invest in gold I'd love to see it go down , then I could afford some nice Gold Type coins , should have bought some Type 1 double eagles when they were $1600 for AU-58s , LOL .
rzage:kewl:

 

Wasn't it just earlier this month or last month that the "leaks" started about Russia *selling* gold to finance their first deficit in some time? People were predicting temporary price declines (minor) while the market was flooded with something like 30 tonnes of gold. Then they backed off, gold hit new highs instead, and now this.
Who's calling the shots over there?
Too many agencies...perhaps I'm just confusing things....

 

Since we're talking GOLD. Is it true the gold miners cannot keep up with the demand? Also the time between discovery and production takes many months and is very expensive in start up costs. Much red tape involved too. If so shouldn't we feel safe in believing the POG will not go down(crash) even if some country dumps their gold or the dollar makes a comeback?

 

That is true in the USA, where ecological regulations make any sort of mining an exercise in futility. The only way to get around it is to be very small scale, and under the radar, or to be grandfather claused by having been in operation for a long time.

However in countries like Russia and South Africa ecological problems are not such the problem, but there are labour issues.

 

Reportedly HSBC is asking its smaller retail investors to remove gold from their vaults and store it elsewhere to make room for bigger tonnage from more profitable institutional investors. Some analysts take this as a sign that a top is forming in gold.

 

No. The amount of gold that is mined annually is very small compared to the inventories of gold around the world. Unlike most commodities, gold moves for reasons other than annual production.

 

This is very bullish for gold. Up until recently, institutional investors ignored gold. Now, a few are buying and others are thinking about it. Any analyst who doesn't recognize this as a sign of a bull market, not a top, is either being intentionally deceptive or is completely incompetent.

 

Others namely being copper, zinc, nickel, even silver. Gold is in a league of it's own as a commodity.

 

Is this coming from your "produce" man?dd:

 

Yes, but I'd put silver in a class all by itself. It's an industrial metal and a precious metal, but it's a tiny market by global standards. If one or two central banks or a few hedge funds decided to move into silver in a big way, the price could move to levels so high I dare not mention them. It's something to think about.

 

I believe the next great prospect for silver is the natural anti-biotic traits it has. If they could make it tarnish free, perhaps an alloy mixed in could take care of that, it would be great for door handles, drawer pulls etc where you have high touch and germ transfer situations.

 

This was an interesting article in 11/24/09 WSJ on front page.

Evidently, if you're one of the "small fry" presently storing gold at HSBC, you need to contact them to tell them what storage facility you want your gold transferred to. If you don't, it will be delivered to your address of record (i.e. doorstep)!

 

That's a pretty horrible way to treat your customers. I am and have been a happy HSBC customer for years, but still, that's not cool in my book.

I'm sure there are many that don't even live at the registered address anymore or perhaps have rented out the property. Imagine being a renter and having gold delivered to your doorsteps!

First they tell you its safe to store your valuables with them, now they wanna kick your stuff out!!!

 

It's more profitable for HSBC. Instead of dealing with a huge herd of gold storage clients with all of the attendant documenting, paperwork, mailings etc. not to mention all sorts of inventory (coins, bars, of various sizes) they will only have a few clients to track. For example, First Eagle Gold fund has 2.2 million oz of gold there. They have not been asked to leave...

Somewhere in the paperwork each client signed, there's a clause that says HSBC can tell you to find storage elsewhere.

 

It always comes down to profits! I can't blame them, they do have to run a business, it just doesn't seem right that's all. With so many zombie banks I'm sure they are doing whatever they can to survive...

At least they don't go through your safe deposit boxes like Bank of America does and sell them on eBay!

 

Perhaps it's overly harsh to say in the USA "any sort of mining is an exercise in futility". Here are some production statistics :

http://www.mbendi.com/indy/ming/am/p0005.htm

It is certainly true that environmental protection is much, much stronger in the US than in Russia. This has been true for many decades. It's pretty shocking what we found when Communism fell. A classic case is ex-Soviet Azerbaijan.

I doubt many folks are "under the radar" with mining operations.

 

Checking several sources, it appears all the gold ever mined is worth approximately $6-7 trillion USD - less than half of one year US GDP.

It's interesting to put things in perspective.