Friday, June 17, 2011

Why Invest in Gold?

Why Invest in Gold

Why Holding Gold in Your Portfolio Isn't Advisable... It's a Must

15 Fundamental Reasons to Own Gold

1. Global Currency Debasement
The U.S. dollar is fundamentally and technically very weak and should fall dramatically over the next few years.

However, other countries are very reluctant to see their currencies appreciate and are resisting the fall of the U.S. dollar.

Thus, we are in the early stages of a massive global currency debasement which will see tangibles, and most particularly gold, rise significantly in price.

2. Rising Investment Demand
When the crowd recognizes what is unfolding, they will seek an alternative to paper currencies and financial assets and this will create an enormous investment demand for gold.

Own both the physical metal and select mining shares.

3. Alarming Financial Deterioration in the U.S.
In the space of two years, the federal government budget surplus has been transformed into a yawning deficit, which will persist as far as the eye can see.

At the same time, the current account deficit has reached levels, which has portended currency collapse in virtually every other instance in history.

4. Negative Real Interest Rates in Reserve Currency (U.S. Dollar)
To combat the deteriorating financial conditions in the U.S., interest rates have been dropped to rock bottom levels, real interest rates are now negative and, according to statements from the Fed spokesmen, are expected to remain so for some time.

There has been a very strong historical relationship between negative real interest rates and stronger gold prices.

5. Dramatic Increases in Money Supply in the US and Other Nations
Authorities are terrified about the prospects for deflation given the unprecedented debt burden at all levels of society in the U.S. Fed Governor Ben Bernanke is on record as saying the Fed has a printing press and will use it to combat deflation if necessary.

Other nations are following in the U.S.'s footsteps and global money supply is accelerating.

This is very gold friendly.

6. Existence of a Huge and Growing Gap between Mine Supply and Traditional Demand
Mined gold is roughly 2,500 tons per year and traditional demand (jewelry, industrial users, etc.) has exceeded this by a considerable margin for a number of years.

Some of this gap has been filled by recycled scrap but central bank gold has been the primary source of above-ground supply.

7. Mine Supply is Anticipated to Decline in the next Three to Four Years.
Even if traditional demand continues to erode due to ongoing worldwide economic weakness, the supply/demand imbalance is expected to persist due to a decline in mine supply.

Mine supply will contract in the next several years, irrespective of gold prices, due to a dearth of exploration in the post Bre-X era, a shift away from high grading which was necessary for survival in the sub-economic gold price environment of the past five years and the natural exhaustion of existing mines.

8. Large Short Positions
To fill the gap between mine supply and demand, Central Bank gold has been mobilized primarily through the leasing mechanism, which facilitated producer hedging and financial speculation.

Strong evidence suggests that between 10,000 and 16,000 tons (30-50% of all Central Bank gold) is currently in the market.

This is owed to the Central Banks by the bullion banks, which are the counter party in the transactions.

9. Low Interest Rates Discourage Hedging
Rates are low and falling.

With low rates, there isn't sufficient contango to create higher prices in the out years.

Thus there is little incentive to hedge and gold producers are not only not hedging, they are reducing their existing hedge positions, thus removing gold from the market.

10. Rising Gold Prices and Low Interest Rates Discourage Financial Speculation on the Short Side.
When gold prices were continuously falling and financial speculators could access Central Bank gold at a minimal leasing rate (0.5 - 1% per year), sell it and reinvest the proceeds in a high yielding bond or Treasury bill, the trade was viewed as a lay-up.

Everyone did it and now there are numerous stale short positions. However, these trades now make no sense with a rising gold price and declining interest rates.

11. The Central Banks are Nearing an Inflection Point when they will be Reluctant to Provide more Gold to the Market.
The Central Banks have supplied too much already via the leasing mechanism.

In addition, Far Eastern Central Banks who are accumulating enormous quantities of U.S. Dollars are rumored to be buyers of gold to diversify away from the U.S. Dollar.

12. Gold is Increasing in Popularity
Gold is seen in a much more positive light in countries beginning to come to the forefront on the world scene.

Prominent developing countries such as China, India and Russia have been accumulating gold.

In fact, China with its 1.3 billion people recently established a National Gold Exchange and relaxed control over the asset.

Demand in China is expected to rise sharply and could reach 500 tons in the next few years.

13. Gold as Money is Gaining Credence
Islamic nations are investigating a currency backed by gold (the Gold Dinar), the new President of Argentina proposed, during his campaign, a gold backed peso as an antidote for the financial catastrophe which his country has experienced and Russia is talking about a fully convertible currency with gold backing.

14. Rising Geopolitical Tensions
The deteriorating conditions in the Middle East, the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and the growing conflict between the U.S. and China due to China's refusal to allow its currency to appreciate against the U.S. dollar headline the geopolitical issues, which could explode at anytime.

A fearful public has a tendency to gravitate towards gold.

15. Limited Size of the Total Gold Market Provides Tremendous Leverage
All the physical gold in existence is worth somewhat more than $1 trillion U.S. Dollars while the value of all the publicly traded gold companies in the world is less than $100 billion US dollars.

When the fundamentals ultimately encourage a strong flow of capital towards gold and gold equities, the trillions upon trillions worth of paper money could propel both to unfathomably high levels.

Conclusion
Gold is under-valued, under-owned and under-appreciated.

It is most assuredly not well understood by most investors.

At the beginning of the 1970's when gold was about to undertake its historic move from $35 to $800 per ounce in the succeeding ten years, the same observations would have been valid.

The only difference this time is that the fundamentals for gold are actually better.

P.S. It's simple, really. Demand is soaring. Supplies are plummeting.

And if you don't buy gold now, you may not get the chance to later.

To get your limited-time discount on physical gold, plus access to our portfolio of incredibly bargain-priced junior gold stocks, simply follow this link.



You can download the PDF version here: Why Invest in Gold

http://www.wealthdaily.com/report/why-invest-in-gold/117

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

ICRIS


中印飾金需求增 專家看好後市

中印飾金需求增 專家看好後市
【經濟日報╱蔡穎青】

根據世界黃金協會公布第一季黃金需求趨勢報告中指出,黃金因擁有強勁的基本面支撐,加上受惠於中國及印度超過全球總數六成以上的飾金需求,全球黃金總需求共成長11%。

中國的實體黃金需求強勁上漲,在第一季期間達90.9公噸,超越印度的85.6公噸,中國目前占總黃金投資需求量25%,印度為23%,顯示中國已儼然成為全球最大的實體黃金投資市場。

供不應求 推動金價上揚

新加坡大華黃金及綜合基金經理人亞達耶(Robert Adair)表示,預期中國的黃金需求在今年接下來的幾個季度平均將有約30%的漲幅,他預期今年底金價將上看每盎司1,750美元

即使近期金融市場波動較大,黃金表現卻相對穩定,這更證明了全球黃金市場的吸引力,以及黃金獨特的需求驅動力。另外值得注意的是,即便黃金現貨價格在這個 月初飆升至每盎司約1,577美元的高點,但需求依然暢旺。近年來黃金優質的礦脈難尋,加上新礦源的探勘及開採不易,以南非為例,多數的礦產經過百年開採 已出現老化現象,而繼續往深處採礦的投資成本上升,導致南非黃金產量受到抑制。

不僅如此,中國2010年黃金在投資、飾金及科技用等需求上,已突破700公噸,同時間中國產量僅不到500公噸,預期此一趨勢可望持續下去,將繼續推升黃金價格走揚。

新興國家央行持續購入

全球央行目前為黃金的大宗投資者,據世界黃金協會統計,各國央行於今年第一季的黃金購買量高達57億美元,已超過了2010全年的購入總金額。

國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)也於近期表示,在全球通膨壓力高漲以及美國財政赤字及舉債問題於短時間內難解的情況下,今年二至三月新興國家央行持續購入黃金 資產,包括有墨西哥、泰國及白俄羅斯等,新加坡大華銀投顧預期各國央行未來增持黃金的趨勢不變,將提供黃金強勁的實質支撐。


http://money.udn.com/fund/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=339&f_SUB_ID=3054&f_ART_ID=237953