You are here

When will Asian central banks buy into gold?

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Steve Johnson
Financial Times, London
Sunday, December 4, 2005

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/9c6d7db6-64fe-11da-8cff-0000779e2340.html

Middle Eastern oil exporters have rediscovered their love of the US
dollar in the past year, helping fuel the currency's rally to two-
year highs against the euro, yen and sterling.

The position marks a sharp turnround from the third quarter of 2004,
when the proportion of bank deposits held in dollars by members of
the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries slumped to a
record low.

By the middle of this year, the proportion of OPEC deposits held in
dollars had rebounded from 61.5 percent to 69.5 percent, with the
share held in euros falling from a high of 24 percent to 16
percent, according to figures released on Monday by the Bank for
International Settlements.

The data will reinforce the view that the dollar's surprise strength
this year has been partly caused by OPEC's recycling of
petrodollars. The currency has risen 13.5 percent to $1.17 against
the euro when most commentators had forecast a fourth straight year
of losses.

Oil exporters have become financial kingmakers as real oil prices
have leapt 170 percent in real terms since 2001 to 25-year highs.
The US Department of Energy estimates OPEC oil revenues will total
$430bn this year, up 27 per cent from 2004.

BIS attributes the sharp rise in the proportion of dollar deposits
to the stabilisation of the dollar and the 300-basis point rise in
US interest rates since June 2003, which has lifted the return on US
deposits. In contrast, the European Central Bank only initiated its
first rate rise of the cycle last week.

While this may seem an obvious factor, BIS found that the currency
composition of OPEC deposits had become much more sensitive to
changes in interest rate differentials than before. BIS found that
many oil-producing nations had been net sellers of US Treasuries
since 1997, instead buying corporate and agency bonds and equities
with higher risks and rewards.

Meanwhile Marvin Barth, currency economist at Citigroup, reported
anecdotal evidence of strong OPEC buying of Japanese and European
equities. However, he argued that high oil prices would ultimately
weaken the dollar by redirecting global savings from Asian countries
such as China and Japan, which keep the bulk of their reserves in
dollars for use in currency intervention, to the oil exporters,
which, even now, are not as dollar-focused. Moreover, if interest
rate differentials are key to OPEC behaviour, the start of the
eurozone tightening cycle could end the dollar's newfound popularity.

----------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:

gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:

gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

----------------------------------------------------

RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Free sites:

http://www.jsmineset.com

http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com

http://www.mineweb.com/

http://www.gold-eagle.com/

http://www.kitco.com/

http://www.usagold.com/

http://www.usagold.com/amk/usagoldmarketupdate.html

http://www.GoldSeek.com/

http://www.GoldReview.com/

http://www.capitalupdates.com/

http://www.DailyReckoning.com

http://www.goldenbar.com/

http://www.silver-investor.com

http://www.thebulliondesk.com/

http://www.sharelynx.com/

http://www.mininglife.com/

http://www.financialsense.com

http://www.goldensextant.com

http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html

http://www.howestreet.com

http://www.depression2.tv

http://www.moneyfiles.org/

http://www.howestreet.com

http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html

http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html

http://www.goldcolony.com

http://www.miningstocks.com

http://www.mineralstox.com

http://www.freemarketnews.com

http://www.321gold.com

http://www.SilverSeek.com

http://www.investmentrarities.com

http://www.kereport.com
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)

http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)

http://www.resourceinvestor.com

http://www.miningmx.com

http://www.prudentbear.com

http://www.dollarcollapse.com

http://www.kitcocasey.com

http://000999.forumactif.com/

http://www.golddrivers.com/

http://www.goldpennystocks.com/

Subscription sites:

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/

http://www.goldinsider.com/

http://www.hsletter.com

http://www.interventionalanalysis.com

http://www.investmentindicators.com/

Eagle Ranch discussion site:

http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm

Ted Butler silver commentary archive:

http://www.investmentrarities.com/

----------------------------------------------------

COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS

Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com

Centennial Precious Metals
Box 460009
Denver, Colorado 80246-0009
1-800-869-5115
http://www.USAGOLD.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
cpm@usagold.com

Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net

El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net

Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Mespil House
37 Adelaide Rd
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 1 2315260/6
Fax: +353 1 2315202
http://www.goldinvestments.org
info@gold.ie

Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com

Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com

Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com

Lone Star Silver Exchange
1702 S. Highway 121
Suite 607-111
Lewisville, Texas 75067
214-632-8869
http://www.discountsilverclub.com

Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel

Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com

Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
http://www.buysilvernow.com

Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com

The Moneychanger
Box 178
Westpoint, Tennessee 38486
http://www.the-moneychanger.com
Franklin Sanders
1-888-218-9226, 931-766-6066

----------------------------------------------------

HOW TO HELP GATA

If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.

By check:

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA

By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:

http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html

By GoldMoney:

http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L

Donors of $1,000 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled GATA.

Donors of $200 or more will receive copies
of "The ABCs of Gold Investing" by Michael
Kosares, proprietor of Centennial Precious
Metals in Denver, Colorado, and "The Coming
Collapse of the Dollar" by James Turk and
John Rubino.

GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.