Precious Metals Update Is palladium flying too close to the sun? Increased speculative activity appears to have been the main driver of the recent surge in the price of palladium, which reached a sixteen-year high of $910 per ounce on 9th June. However... 21st June 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly The losing streak continues It has been a poor week for most commodity prices. The Fed’s decision to hike interest rates on Wednesday weighed on the prices of gold and industrial metals. Oil prices continued to drop, partly due... 16th June 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Gold’s luck to run out The price of gold was largely unaffected by the Fed’s decision to raise its policy rate target by 25bp, to between 1.00% and 1.25%, yesterday. While many have attributed the resilience in the gold... 15th June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Focus Short-term and long-term determinants of India’s gold demand India is one of the world’s largest consumers of gold and relies solely on imports to meet domestic gold demand. This has, at times, resulted in a deepening of the country’s current account deficit... 14th June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response South Africa’s Mine Production (Apr.) PGM output had a strong start to the year but the latest figures suggest that it has already started to wane. We expect production to fall in the remainder of the year as the platinum price treads... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Precious metals outperform The prices of precious metals benefitted from a weaker US dollar and heightened safe-haven demand in May. In addition, markets are pricing in only a limited Fed tightening over the next eighteen... 6th June 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly A case of the jitters hits commodity markets Oil prices have continued to fall on fears that the OPEC supply cuts will not be sufficient to clear the excess in the market. In addition, a weak May unofficial PMI reading out of China on Thursday... 2nd June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response China and India’s gold imports (Apr.) The latest trade data show a jump in gold imports in the two largest consumers last month. India’s imports soared ahead of the forthcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST), while the strength of China’s... 25th May 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Metals prices could fall sharply as sentiment turns Sentiment towards metals has deteriorated somewhat since the start of 2017. We had warned that this could happen as the large investor inflows into metals markets last year were mostly premised on... 24th May 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Focus Platinum: Short-term pain, Long-term gain Given our outlook for US monetary policy this year and next, we expect the weakness in the price of platinum to persist through most of 2017-18. However, further ahead, we think that platinum will... 15th May 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response South Africa’s Mine Production (Mar.) South Africa’s PGM output grew strongly in Q1 but, going forward, we expect reduced investment over the past few years to start denting supply. 11th May 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Watch Will Fed tightening prove too strong a headwind for gold? The resilience in the price of gold this year has come as a surprise given the prospect of further monetary tightening in the US. Safe-haven demand appears to have been the main driver of prices. But... 8th May 2017 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Q1 2017 World Gold Council Demand Trends Global gold demand fell by 18% y/y in Q1 2017, but this was from a high base a year earlier. In comparison to Q4 2016, demand was stronger as geopolitical concerns prompted investor buying. Subdued... 5th May 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response China and India’s gold imports (Mar.) The latest trade data show a sharp rise in gold imports in China and India in March. While demand in India picked up ahead of the Akshaya Tritiya festival, Chinese buyers probably took advantage of... 25th April 2017 · 1 min read
India Economics Update Rupee surges to 20-month high The rally in the Indian rupee since the start of 2017 has continued in recent weeks, driving the currency to its highest rate against the US dollar in almost two years. While we doubt that the rally... 21st April 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Higher geopolitical tensions support gold prices, for now The further deterioration in the US relationship with Russia and North Korea this week has supported the prices of precious metals. A weaker dollar, in light of President Trump’s comments about the... 13th April 2017 · 1 min read
