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Le FMI pourrait se délester de 400 tonnes d'or


(Easybourse.com) Pour accroître les revenus du Fonds monétaire international et palier à ses difficultés de financement, un comité d'experts mandaté par l'institution a recommandé hier la vente de 400 tonnes d'or détenus en interne. Ce faisant, le FMI pourrait récolter, au regard du cours actuel, 6,6 milliards de dollars (5,1 milliards d'euros).


Profiter de la flambée de l'or pour se refaire une santé pécunière altérée par les crises financières passées, voilà l'une des idées émises par le comité d'experts, dont Alan Greenspan, l'ancien président de la Réserve fédérale américaine, fait partie.

'Les réserves d'or du FMI se montent à 103,4 millions d'onces (3 217 tonnes) d'une valeur inscrite dans le bilan du Fonds pour 8,8 milliards de dollars. Mais compte-tenu de la flambée des cours des matières premières, l'ensemble de cet or vaut toutefois quelques 67 milliards de dollars aux prix actuels du marché', note ce matin Elisabeth Studer sur le Blog Finance.

Une fois placé, le produit de la vente de l'or pourrait rapporter chaque année 195 millions de dollars (150 millions d'euros) au FMI.

Les experts du FMI recommendent également que l'institution fasse payer son assistance technique aux pays qui lui demandent, tout en s'assurant que les Etats les plus pauvres, grâce à des arrangements, bénéficient toujours de son aide.

Dollar, oil and Iran seen supporting gold

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Tuesday as the dollar softened and crude oil held firm, while tension between Britain and Iran helped boost the precious metal's appeal as a haven.

Spot gold <XAU> was up at $664.80/665.30 an ounce by 1013 GMT, not far from the three-week high of $666.60 seen last Thursday, from $663.30/664.00 late in New York on Monday.

"Gold is underpinned by higher oil and a weaker dollar," said Robin Bhar, metals analyst at UBS.


"It needs a trigger ...The standoff between the UK and Iran with its nuclear ambitions could be it."

A lower U.S. currency makes dollar-denominated metals cheaper for holders of other currencies, while investors see gold as a hedge against oil-led inflation.

Oil prices <CLc1> rose above $63 a barrel on Monday on jitters about Iran's detention of 15 British soldiers last Friday a day before the United Nations imposed new sanctions on the world's fourth biggest oil exporter.

"The latest crisis in the Middle East, if it is not resolved, may continue to influence gold prices," HSBC said in a research note.

China will be world's top gold miner in next decade
With continuing expansion of its gold industry and declining production elsewhere, China is poised to become the world's largest gold producer in the next decade and western mining companies are taking advantage of the opportunities opening up in this sector.

Barrick Gold prévoit d'investir 10 milliards de dollars

Le groupe canadien Barrick Gold, premier producteur d'or au monde, veut continuer à fortement se développer. Notamment pour ses opérations en cours mais aussi en développant de nouvelles mines. Il affiche sa volonté de profiter du courant acheteur actuellement sur le métal jaune.

La société souligne mener neuf projets avancés en la matière et compte y investir un total de 10 milliards de dollars. C'est ce qu'a annoncé ce lundi le patron de Barrick pour la région Asie Pacifique, Joe O'Rourke, cité par l'agence Bloomberg.

Ce plan d'investissement inclut les 2,4 milliards de dollars que dépense en ce moment la firme pour le projet Pascua-Lama, à la frontière de l'Argentine et du Chili.

La Tribune

China Is Second Largest World Gold Producer

This year China, the world’s third largest gold producer, will most probably surpass the U.S. and become second largest gold producer.

This year, China, the world’s third largest gold producer, will most probably surpass the U.S. and become second largest gold producer in the world, a senior official of one of the country’s largest mining companies said on Friday.

China is planning to boost its gold production by 8.3 percent to 260 tonnes in 2007 in conditions of the metal’s high prices on the global market. Last year the prices of gold reached an all time high in the past 25 years.

Domestic demand is expected to be in the level of this year’s production that is estimated at 260 tonnes, supported by the jewellery manufacturing sector, said Wu Junyun, deputy chief manager of the international trade department of the Chinese steel production group on the margins of a conference taking place in Shanghai.

Chinese gold production in the first four months of this year increased 14 percent to 77.75 tonnes, from a seven percent increase in 2006 when it reached record levels of 260 tonnes, data of the Chinese association of gold manufacturers say. The global association of gold producers assessed consumption in the country at the level of approximately 240 tonnes.

The Chinese group for the manufacture of steel, which is owned by the state and is one of the largest gold producers in China, produces 20 percent of the total produced amount of gold in China. Wu said that the company was interested in activities of extracting ores in neighbouring countries, including Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as in Russia and other countries of Central Asia.

Gold will rise as high as $750 an ounce this year, about $100 more than today, as concern about accelerating inflation spurs demand for the metal as a store of value, Newmont Mining Corp. Vice Chairman Pierre Lassonde said.
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Gold has climbed 2.3 percent this year, partly on speculation that higher prices for raw materials including crude oil and wheat will spur demand for the precious metal as a hedge against inflation. The European Central Bank and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand have raised rates this month.
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The slowdown may cause gold to fall as low as $630 in the next several weeks before rebounding to $700 or $750 by the end of the year, he said.

And, he said, supply is growing, with the $22 billion that has been "plowed into exploration" over the past five years now starting to pay off.
More than 50 operations will come into being between 2007 and 2012, with a combined annual output of about 450 metric tons, he said. "That, in a 3,300 metric-ton total market supply, is 13% incremental supply."
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The dollar, too, cannot rise in the long term, and gold can only go up in the long term, said Ned Schmidt, editor of the Value View Gold Report.
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All told, "no single factor has a more winning percentage than the inverse relationship of gold to the U.S. dollar," said Peter Grandich, editor of the Grandich Letter, in a recent newsletter. "About 85% of the time, and certainly over a period of years, they move in opposite directions."
And "a currency is only as good as the country behind it," he said. "Socially, economically, politically ... America has never been in worse shape."
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On a technical level, support for August gold has to hold at the March low of $647.50 and it needs to noncommercial buying re-emerge before it can head back toward the high end of its trading range, said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at Omaha-based DTN. The contract tested resistance at $706 back in April.
But if support doesn't hold, and long-liquidation selling increases, the market could fall back to the next level of support near $625.60, he warned.

India's gold imports are now soaring. Newly booming, India ranks as one of the few examples of outright gold consumption in the world -- it's used widely for jewelry, especially for in connection with brides and weddings.