THURSDAY, 10.30AM
The gold price edged lower on Wednesday after taking a breather from its headlong fall on Tuesday. The precious metral lost another $2,20 to close in London at $319,75, after seeing $315,75 in the morning.
Local markets reflected bullion’s fortunes, with the JSE’s gold index losing 2% to end the day 18,4 points down at 905,3. The all share index shed 11 points to close at 7 299. The rand lost nearly a cent against the dollar in the morning, but bounced back to Tuesday’s levels in the afternoon, closing at R4,5570 to the dollar. Bonds also weakened.
While traders are expecting bullion to suffer further losses, SA mining houses are surprisingly upbeat, given the predictions of mine closures and job losses. Most are confident that the fundamentals of supply and demand will come into play before long to push the gold price up to sustainable levels.