You are here
High prices fail to dent gold demand in India
By Patrick Hosking
The Times, London
Friday, January 28, 2005
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8209-1460595,00.html
One of the largest hoards of gold ever gathered outside
a central bank has been accumulated at a secret address
in London over the past few months.
Gold bars with a value of 1.55 billion are understood
to have been collected in a single vault in an anonymous
building owned by HSBC. If melted into a single block,
the 212 tonnes of solid gold would take up 11 cubic
metres -- roughly the size of a Transit Van.
But the gold is so dense that it would require 104 Transit
Vans to cart it away. The quantity of metal is 21 times the
amount stolen in the Brinks-Mat robbery in 1983.
Ironically, the reason for the accumulation of this hoard is
the popularity of a new gold investment product that does
away with the expense, risk, and hassle of taking delivery
of the metal.
People and institutions in Britain, the United States, and
Australia have been queueing to buy gold-backed,
exchange-traded funds (ETF) -- listed shares tradeable on
the stock exchange but backed by actual gold.
Gold Bullion Securities (GBS), the British and Australian
ETF that listed in London in December 2003, has 60
tonnes of gold in the vault -- a 30 percent increase in the
past four months. StreetTRACKS, its sister ETF in the
United States, which was launched in November, is now
backed by 152 tonnes of gold deposited in the same vault.
Both ETFs are supported by the World Gold Council, the
marketing body for the goldmining industry.
Simon Village, joint managing director of GBS, said:
"Exchange-traded gold has very quickly become an
important investment vehicle for investors seeking
exposure to the metal or seeking to diversify their
holdings in other assets."
In the past 12 months, 7.5 percent of the world's
goldmine production had gone into ETF products,
Mr Village said.
Barclays yesterday launched a rival gold-backed ETF
on Wall Street using Bank of Nova Scotia as custodian.
Gold-backed ETFs closely track the physical gold
price, less a small commission for administration and
gold storage costs. Additional securities are created or
old ones redeemed so that supply matches demand.
Most of the demand has come from institutional
investors. Strong publicity for the streetTRACKS
product in the US has boosted demand, as has the
slide in the gold price during the past few weeks,
which some investors see as a buying opportunity.
The gold stockpile in London is said to be secure.
But it is not clear what would happen in the unlikely
event that the hoard was stolen.
GBS does not insure the gold and said it is HSBC's
responsibility to keep it safe. Investors might have to
rely on a claim against the bank in the unlikely event
of a robbery, GBS said.
HSBC is under no obligation to insure the gold. But
the bank said it would be responsible for any gold lost
through its negligence, fraud, or willful deceit.
----------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:
gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:
gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Free sites:
http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com
http://www.capitalupdates.com/
http://www.silver-investor.com
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html
http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html
http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com
http://www.kereport.com
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)
http://www.resourceinvestor.com
Subscription sites:
http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/
http://www.interventionalanalysis.com
http://www.investmentindicators.com/
Eagle Ranch discussion site:
http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm
Ted Butler silver commentary archive:
http://www.investmentrarities.com/
----------------------------------------------------
COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS
Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com
Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East First Ave., Suite 807
Denver, Colorado 80206
1-800-869-5115
http://www.USAGOLD.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
cpm@usagold.com
Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net
El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net
Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Mespil House
37 Adelaide Rd
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 1 2315260/6
Fax: +353 1 2315202
http://www.goldinvestments.org
info@gold.ie
Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com
Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com
Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com
Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel
Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com
Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com
The Moneychanger
Box 178
Westpoint, Tennessee 38486
http://www.the-moneychanger.com
Franklin Sanders
1-888-218-9226, 931-766-6066
----------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP GATA
If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.
By check:
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA
By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:
http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html
By GoldMoney:
http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L
Donors of $1,000 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled GATA.
Donors of $200 or more will receive copies
of "The ABCs of Gold Investing" by Michael
Kosares, proprietor of Centennial Precious
Metals in Denver, Colorado, and "The Coming
Collapse of the Dollar" by James Turk and
John Rubino.
GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.
