Market Commentary 09/07/01: The precious metals complex finished mixed on Friday. Gold ranged between $267.20 and $264.80 offered, closing $0.80 cents higher at $266.20 bid. Silver finished the day at $4.26 bid, gaining 3 cents, after trading between $4.2650 bid and $4.21 offered. The October Platinum contract jumped $10.40, to settle at $557.40, after recording fixings of $553.00 (AM) and $551.00 (PM). The September palladium contract settled at $577.00, losing $7.00, with fixings of $580.00 (AM) and $573.00 (PM). On the week gold lost $4.40, silver fell 6 cents, platinum gained $3.80 and palladium dropped $22.95. Friday’s trading activity followed recent patterns and gained momentum as the day progressed. Activity in the Far East was minimal due to the Hong Kong market not opening, because of a typhoon that was sweeping through Asia. Gold edged downwards in lacklustre European trade to hold just above Thursday’s low. The yellow metal opened under pressure in New York as fund selling pushed gold lower. Once again the funds were banging their heads against a brick wall as substantial physical demand thwarted the attempted move lower. Gold worked its way higher during the afternoon session as locals and trade houses short covered, helping the price to rally almost $3.00. Gold’s close was relatively uninspiring and we expect pressure to remain on the downside for the early part of the week as the market focuses on Wednesday’s Bank of England auction and currency movements. With the technical indicators starting to turn positive and gold looking well supported between $262 and $264, this area may well provide the launch pad for another move to the mid 270’s. Silver’s day was very similar to gold’s as the market dipped initially on good fund selling. Silver managed to hold the key support level and headed higher during the afternoon as dealer’s book squared ahead of the weekend. The $4.15 area continues to be the downside attraction and another attempt to target this area should be seen this week. Friday afternoon’s platinum and palladium fixes of $551 and $573 were 13-month lows for both metals. The price differential between the two continues to narrow and we expect them to trade at parity in the near future.


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