U.K. Royal Mint First-Quarter Gold Output Slips 50%
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U.K. Royal Mint First-Quarter Gold Output Slips 50%
By Thomas Biesheuvel and Nicholas Larkin
April 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s Royal Mint, established in the 13th century, said first-quarter gold coin production shrank 50 percent.
The mint used 18,353 ounces of gold, compared with 36,547 ounces a year earlier, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request. Gold averaged $1,110 an ounce in the three months to March 31, compared with $909 in the first quarter of 2009.
Investors turned to gold as a haven last year as the global recession undermined confidence in equities and currencies. The MSCI World Index of stocks is near a 15-month high set in January while the dollar gained the most in six quarters against the euro in the three months ended yesterday. Bullion typically moves inversely to the U.S. currency.
“People are not piling into gold in a way that they were in the past,” Dan Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said today by phone. “There’s been an improvement in risk appetite and people see less of a need to be in gold.”
Muenze Oesterreich AG, the Austrian mint that makes the best-selling gold coin in Europe, said March 18 that sales fell 80 percent in the first two months of 2010 after buyers began to regain confidence in the global economy. Sales of American Eagle gold coins by the U.S. Mint slipped 21 percent to 271,000 ounces in the first quarter from a year earlier, its Web site showed.
Hedge-Fund Managers
Gold’s nine-year bull market attracted hedge-fund managers including John Paulson and Paul Tudor Jones. Investors in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, amassed more metal than Switzerland’s central bank. The metal reached a record $1,226.56 an ounce on Dec. 3 and traded at $1,116.03 at 11:26 a.m. in London today. Smith expects gold to average $1,300 in the fourth quarter.
The U.K. mint used 104,007 ounces of silver in the quarter, compared with 102,586 ounces a year earlier. Silver averaged $16.92 an ounce in the first quarter and traded at $17.64 today.
The U.K. mint moved to Llantrisant in Wales from London’s Tower Hill in 1968. It makes coins including the 22-carat 2010 U.K. Sovereign Proof, weighing 7.99 grams (0.26 ounce) and costing 320 pounds ($488), the state agency’s Web site shows. A 22-carat coin has a 91.6 percent gold content, according to the World Gold Council.
(copyright 2010 by Bloomberg News)
By Thomas Biesheuvel and Nicholas Larkin
April 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s Royal Mint, established in the 13th century, said first-quarter gold coin production shrank 50 percent.
The mint used 18,353 ounces of gold, compared with 36,547 ounces a year earlier, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request. Gold averaged $1,110 an ounce in the three months to March 31, compared with $909 in the first quarter of 2009.
Investors turned to gold as a haven last year as the global recession undermined confidence in equities and currencies. The MSCI World Index of stocks is near a 15-month high set in January while the dollar gained the most in six quarters against the euro in the three months ended yesterday. Bullion typically moves inversely to the U.S. currency.
“People are not piling into gold in a way that they were in the past,” Dan Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said today by phone. “There’s been an improvement in risk appetite and people see less of a need to be in gold.”
Muenze Oesterreich AG, the Austrian mint that makes the best-selling gold coin in Europe, said March 18 that sales fell 80 percent in the first two months of 2010 after buyers began to regain confidence in the global economy. Sales of American Eagle gold coins by the U.S. Mint slipped 21 percent to 271,000 ounces in the first quarter from a year earlier, its Web site showed.
Hedge-Fund Managers
Gold’s nine-year bull market attracted hedge-fund managers including John Paulson and Paul Tudor Jones. Investors in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, amassed more metal than Switzerland’s central bank. The metal reached a record $1,226.56 an ounce on Dec. 3 and traded at $1,116.03 at 11:26 a.m. in London today. Smith expects gold to average $1,300 in the fourth quarter.
The U.K. mint used 104,007 ounces of silver in the quarter, compared with 102,586 ounces a year earlier. Silver averaged $16.92 an ounce in the first quarter and traded at $17.64 today.
The U.K. mint moved to Llantrisant in Wales from London’s Tower Hill in 1968. It makes coins including the 22-carat 2010 U.K. Sovereign Proof, weighing 7.99 grams (0.26 ounce) and costing 320 pounds ($488), the state agency’s Web site shows. A 22-carat coin has a 91.6 percent gold content, according to the World Gold Council.
(copyright 2010 by Bloomberg News)
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