Gold Prices Soared 1.9% Yesterday India May Relax Import Restrictions

On Thursday, the media reported that the leaders of India's Congress Party were calling on the government to relax gold The restrictions on imports and the market expectation that the demand of this big gold consuming country will soon recover helped the gold price reverse the sluggish performance of the previous two trading days and rise rapidly; In addition, the decline of the US stock market and the weak performance of the US dollar exchange rate also increased the investment attraction of gold, pushing the gold price to the highest level in more than two months. The main gold contract closed at $1262.30 per ounce in the floor trading.

　　 New York Mercantile Exchange The main gold contract for February rose $23.70, or 1.9%, to close at $1262.30 per ounce on Thursday. This is also the highest closing price of the main contract since November 19, 2013.

The media reported on Thursday that, India Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi is asking the government to relax restrictions on gold imports. Chintan Karnani, chief market analyst of Ensigna, a trading advisory firm in New Delhi He said, "This is a sign that the government will soon relax the restrictions on gold import, and the spot gold premium in India will soon fall because of this news." He stressed, "India allows gold import, which will be good for the recent price performance of gold and silver."

The Indian government has imposed a high import tax on gold in the hope of limiting its growing current account deficit. Jan Skoyles, research director of Real Assets, a supplier of precious metal investment platform, said, "Once this restriction is lifted, the demand for gold will not return to the previous level soon, but at least at the beginning there will be an explosive growth of a large amount of cumulative demand."

In China, another big gold consumer, the adverse economic data has brought some adverse effects on the demand prospects of the country. The report of HSBC and Markit shows that the purchasing managers' index of China's manufacturing industry fell to a six-month low of 49.6 points in January, compared with 50.5 points in December. The new reading shows that the industry has entered a shrinking state.

However, unfavorable Chinese economic data also contributed to the sharp decline of the US stock market on Thursday, which in turn increased the investment attraction of gold.

In terms of other economic data, the data of the U.S. Department of Labor pointed out that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time increased by 1000 in the week ending January 18, with the total number almost unchanged at 326000, slightly better than the market expectation; According to the report of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, the sales of existing houses in December increased by 1%, with an annual total of 4.87 million. Although it was not as expected by the market, it helped the sales of existing houses in 2013 increase by 9.1% year on year, reaching the highest level of 5.09 million in seven years.

The leading economic indicator of the non-profit organization Economic Consulting Bureau increased by 0.1% to 99.4 points in December, which is also the sixth consecutive month for the project to rise; However, Markit's U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index was 53.7 points at the beginning of January, slightly lower than the 11 month high of 55 points in December.

Markit's Eurozone purchasing managers' index shows that the regional manufacturing activity is the highest level in 32 months. The exchange rate of the US dollar against the euro fell, and the relatively weak US dollar made the holding cost of a variety of commodity futures priced in US dollars lower, including gold, which promoted investment attraction and prices.

Jane Schoyers said that, on the whole, "the data of the United States is worse than expected, but it is not very scary. However, considering that the Federal Open Market Committee will hold its first regular decision-making meeting in 2014 next week, speculative traders may be highly alert to any hint that the Federal Reserve may give the direction of its decision on bond procurement projects. If the sentiment of the market is that the reduction of asset purchase will not be announced soon, it will be beneficial to the gold price. "

In addition, market analysts Gold price The future trend is generally pessimistic. According to the 2013 gold survey conducted by Reuters GFMS, they expect that the average gold price in 2014 will be $1225 per ounce, which means a 13% annual decline.

In terms of other metal prices, the March silver contract rose 17 cents on Thursday to close at $20.01 per ounce, up 0.9%; Copper for March delivery fell 5 cents, or 1.5%, to US $3.286 per pound.

Platinum in April rose 80 cents on Thursday to close at US $1463.20 per ounce, up 0.1%; Palladium in March fell by $2.95 to close at $745.90 per ounce, or 0.4%.