WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM
GOLD’s recent downward spiral continued on Tuesday after a few days of consolidation, with the metal closing in London at $319,75/oz.
Morning trade in London saw bullion trading at $319, before it climbed bask up to $320 for a while in the afternoon. Gold’s drop back below $320 has precipitated fears of a new crash in the bullion price, with overall market sentiment that the gold price has yet to bottom out.
Bullion’s latest misfortunes pushed the gold index down 2,33% or 23,3 points to 976,3, after briefly flirting with four figures on Monday.
The rand, meanwhile, held up well against the US dollar desapite coming under concerted attack, holding at R4,5545 over Monday’s R4,5535. The day started with strong local demand for dollars, and the Reserve Bank soon steeped in to put a cap on undue pressure on the currency, caused by jittery emerging overseas markets and nervousness at Bullion’s free fall.
However, the rand withstood the dollar’s strength bettern than some other international currencies, improving slightly against sterling and the yen, but losing some ground to the deutschemark.