Barclays: Physical buying picks up following Wednesday sell off in gold

LONDON (Commodity news world): Physical demand for gold has picked up following the sharp mid-week drop in prices, says Barclays Capital in a research note.

“Strong buying from Asia emerged and volume traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange jumped to its highest since end January,” Barclays added.

“February had been a weak month for physical demand across key regions and Turkey's import data for February confirmed the weak start to the year with gold imports down to 2.06 (metric) tons from 2.96 tons in January,” Barclays continued.

Meanwhile, holdings in the SPDR gold exchange-traded fund were unchanged at 1,293.68 metric tons Thursday. Analysts note that holdings reflect trades settled on the third business day, thus any redemptions from Wednesday would be reported early next week.

Emerging market demand may pick up after sell-off in gold: HSBC

LONDON (Commodity news world ): Emerging-market demand for gold may pick up after Wednesday’s sharp sell-off, said HSBC in a daily research note.

According to HSBC, gold and silver fell as the dollar rose when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, appearing before Congress, stopped short of signaling readiness to conduct another round of bond purchases.

“The inability of gold to clear USD1,800/oz in recent days, the sharp increase in net long speculative positions on the Comex since the new year, and the paucity of emerging-market buying in recent weeks left gold vulnerable to a selloff, which dragged silver lower in its wake,” HSBC added.

“Declines of this magnitude, however, often attract emerging-market buyers and may also interest potential central-bank buyers. Buying from these quarters could soon staunch the decline.,” HSBC said.

“Furthermore, monetary policy remains accommodative not only in the U.S. but in other nations, the USD is still dogged by structural weaknesses, according to HSBC currency research, and global oil supplies remain vulnerable to geopolitically led disruptions. These factors should help reignite the gold rally, we believe,” bank concluded.