Precious Metals Update Gold price to be supported by central banks’ buying In the last month, China has added a further 19 tonnes to its official holdings of gold. This supports our view that China’s gold accumulation will continue and that official purchases will be one of... 18th August 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Update No respite for commodities yet Commodity prices have continued their decline over the past month, with both the GSCI and Bloomberg commodity indices falling to levels last seen in mid-2009. As a result, the gulf between returns... 17th August 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly China’s “devaluation” lifts precious metals prices The People’s Bank of China surprised markets on Tuesday by lowering the reference rate that determines the mid-point of the renminbi’s trading band against the US dollar. Although the bank explained... 14th August 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Q2 World Gold Council Demand Trends In its latest World Demand Trends report, published today, the World Gold Council depicted a challenging time for gold in Q2. Demand was weak across all sectors but supply also fell, meaning that... 13th August 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Update What China’s ‘‘devaluation’’ means for commodity prices All else equal, a weaker renminbi means that US dollar-denominated commodities will be more expensive in local currency terms for Chinese buyers. However, with the renminbi unlikely to go into... 12th August 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response US silver imports and exports (May) US silver imports fell in May after a strong April, but exports of semi-manufactured silver surged, suggesting recovering industrial demand from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, retail appetite for... 11th August 2015 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Investor sentiment shows tentative signs of improvement The prices of precious metals (PMs) have fallen sharply since mid-July as sentiment towards commodities in general plummeted. A further slump in Chinese equities and unexpectedly weak Chinese PMI... 10th August 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Currency depreciation won’t help producers much longer Depreciating producer currencies have played a major role in cushioning mining companies’ margins in recent years. However, with the prices of most precious metals below production costs even in local... 7th August 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response World Gold Official Reserves (Jun.) Buying by global central banks picked up pace in June, with Russia once again particularly active. Going forward, we expect further official purchases to be one of several factors supporting the price... 6th August 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Negative sentiment weighs on precious metal prices The prices of almost all precious metals fell sharply last month as sentiment towards commodities in general plummeted. A further slump in Chinese equities and unexpectedly weak Chinese PMI numbers... 4th August 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Focus Why have Turkish exports performed so badly? The weakness of Turkish exports over the first half of this year can in part be pinned on temporary factors including bad weather, strikes in the automobile sector and problems in major trading... 3rd August 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Platinum price to benefit from risk of industrial unrest The slump in platinum prices to the lowest level in over six years has forced South Africa’s mining companies to restructure, leading to job cuts. With the situation between labour unions and miners... 28th July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response China's gold imports (Jun.) Mainland China’s gold imports from Hong Kong fell in June after a strong May. However, we expect total imports by China and India to pick up in the second half of the year as low prices attract a... 27th July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Watch Will central banks continue to buy gold? Central banks have become major buyers of gold, accounting on average for about 10% of total gold demand over the past five years. The primary driver of central banks’ gold buying continues to be... 27th July 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update How low could gold go? In an earlier Precious Metals Update, “Quantifying the downside – and upside – for gold” (13 th March), we suggested that the gold price could fall as low as $850 per ounce in a worst case scenario... 23rd July 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update What are global auto sales telling us about PGM demand? Despite slowing auto sales in China, we believe autocatalyst demand for platinum and palladium will increase by at least 3% in 2015, helping to underpin our positive view on the prices of both metals... 23rd July 2015 · 1 min read