Bullion metals end mixed again

Gold drops but silver manages to crawl up

Gold prices ended lower on Monday, 23 March, 2009 but silver rose. The Treasury Department today detailed their plan to remove toxic assets from banks' balance sheets. This boosted the confidence of the investors and decreased the appeal of precious metals as a safe haven against alternatives. Fed's recent moves had sparked some good notions about the recovery from the recent recession in US. The rebounding dollar was also responsible for precious metals ending lower today.

Generally, a stronger dollar pressures demand for dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold, which become more expensive for holders of other currencies and also vice versa.

On Monday, Comex Gold for April delivery fell $3.7 (0.4%) to close at $952.5 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, the yellow metal ended higher by 2.8%. For the month of February, gold ended higher by 7.4%. For January, 2009, gold had gained 3.9%. Year to date, gold prices are higher by 15.1%.

On 17 March, 2008 prices had skyrocketed to a high of $1,034/ounce. But prices have dropped somewhat (7.9%) since then.

On Monday, Comex silver futures for May delivery rose 3.5 cents (0.3%) to end at $13.875 an ounce. In February, 2009, silver had rose 4.3% after climbing 14% in January. Year to date, silver has climbed 26.3% this year. For 2008, silver had lost 24%.

The Treasury Department unveiled their plan today about buying back most of the bank's toxic assets thereby cleaning up their balance sheet to the extent possible. Treasure Secretary Tim Geithner detailed today that the Treasury plans to create a series of public-private investments funds to buy $500 billion to $1000 billion in legacy loans and securities. To encourage participation from the private sector, the government is taking on much of the risk and offering subsidies.

US stocks rallied today on the back of this news and the Dow ended more than 500 points higher for the day.

In 2008, gold prices ended higher by 5.5%. The dollar index had gained 12% that year.

Last year, the weakening dollar and higher global demand for raw materials had led to records for commodities including gold. Gold reached a record in March 2008 as a U.S. housing slump and credit crisis spurred the Federal Reserve to slash borrowing costs. In the last move, the Federal Reserve has cuts its target bank lending rate to 0.25% from 5.25% in September, 2007. The Fed did it in nine steps.

Prior to 2008, gold had witnessed the greatest annual gain in twenty eight years by gaining $200/ounce (31%) in FY 2007 as lower interest rates had sent the dollar tumbling, and crude-oil prices rose to a record. Silver had climbed 16% in FY 2007. In 2006, silver had jumped 46% while gold gained 23%.

At the MCX, gold prices for April delivery closed lower by Rs 76 (0.5%) at Rs 15,425 per 10 grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 15,518 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 15,355 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for May delivery closed Rs 90 (0.4%) higher at Rs 22,827/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 22,700/kg and rose to a high of Rs 22,936/Kg during the day's trading.