Came across this deal on deal.com.sg :
Thus, decided to snap up some as a form of investment!
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Experience in investing in silver
Thus, decided to snap up some as a form of investment!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lunar new year coins 2012
The lunar new year if the dragon is fast approaching with 23/01/12 being the first day of the lunar new year.
After looking at the advertisement by the Singapore Mint, feel so tempted to start buying.
After looking at the advertisement by the Singapore Mint, feel so tempted to start buying.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The negative impacts of Integrated Resorts in Singapore.
Was browsing thru Stomp earlier and came across this news article about how a Taka Jewellery employee actually took $1.1 million worth of shop's jewellery and cash to gamble.
Is it still too early to feel the negative impact from the Intergrated Resorts? Is the IR the better of the evil?
Kinda strikes a chord within me, especially since I know this Sales person when she served me.
Wong Siew Teng was working as a jewellery store supervisor when the urge to gamble took over her life for six months last year.
She made weekly trips to the casino at Resorts World Sentosa.
Sometimes, she would go twice a week. But she did not gamble with her own money.
She took diamonds and jewellery from her store, Taka Jewellery’s outlet in Kovan.
She ordered expensive jewellery from the chain’s other shops, lying to colleagues that she had interested buyers.
She took customers’ jewellery. She even took cash from the till.
She pawned the valuables and used the money to gamble.
When she won, she would redeem the pawned items and replace them in the shop.
However, her luck ran out, and her losses piled up. And when her employers discovered things amiss at the shop, the game was up.
Yesterday, the Malaysian was jailed for five years. In all, the petite 30-year-old pocketed jewellery and money worth $1.1 million.
She pleaded guilty last month to charges of criminal breach of trust and laundering criminal proceeds at the casino.
The items she took included loose diamonds, diamond rings, diamond ear studs and diamond bracelets – in fact, anything with diamonds.
She started taking the valuables in June last year. She pawned two diamond rings for $10,200 and headed for Sentosa.
She won at the casino, redeemed the items and replaced them in the shop. A week later, she took another diamond ring, and did the same.
However, her winning streak did not last, and she was soon over her head and unable to redeem the pawned jewellery.
The more she gambled, the greater were her losses. Then, last November, Taka went to the police over discrepancies in its Kovan sales records.
Investigations revealed how Wong trawled the chain’s database for jewellery with diamonds of at least one carat at the other branches.
She would ask for the items to be sent to Kovan, saying she had a potential customer, then pawned them.
When the branches needed their jewellery back, Wong took cash from the till to redeem them.
She also convinced customers to place cash deposits for pieces of jewellery, telling them these would be a good buy. In reality, the items had been pawned.
Between June and November last year, she took 109 items belonging to Taka or its clients and embezzled $64,000 in cash.
She pawned the jewellery at Big Max, Valuemax or Moneymax.
Police recovered about $774,000 worth of jewellery from the pawn shops and an inquiry will be held to find the rightful owners.
Defence counsel Sukdave Singh said Wong had acted out of character, saying she had been depressed after being jilted by her boyfriend.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
New Year Shopping
Was at Jurong Point today when I came across the Singapore Mint Roadshow whereby they display a whole range of products from Singapore Mint. The personal practice of buying a gold coin, or rather a small gold coin, every Lunar New Year has not waned for me.
However, I was a little disappointed when the 3 teenagers manning the little booth at Jurong Point were more interested in talking amongst themselves and fiddling with the apps on their iPhones then to bother to attend to customers.
Worst still... when I asked them about the product specifications, like how heavy the coin was, how much the pricing was, etc. They too were not familiar...
Nonetheless, after looking thru the catalogue which was provided there, I finally managed to get all the specifications and pricing right. Which makes me wonder, why even bother to set up a booth there, when they could have merely set up a vending machine?
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Gold roses, anyone?
The roses, which were made of Au99.99 gold foil were displayed in the shape of a heart at a jeweley store in Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu province on Dec 15.They are worth 600,000 yuan (US$90,165) and were bought by a man, whose surname means 'gold' in Chinese, according to an online report.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
UAE hotel erects 11-million-dollar Christmas tree
It is the "most expensive Christmas tree ever," with a "value of over 11 million dollars," said Hans Olbertz, general manager of Emirates Palace hotel, at its inauguration.
The 13-metre (40-foot) faux evergreen, located in the gold leaf-bedecked rotunda of the hotel, is decorated with silver and gold bows, ball-shaped ornaments and small white lights.But the necklaces, earrings and other jewellery draped around the tree's branches are what give it a record value.
It holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, said Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery.
"The tree itself is about 10,000 dollars," Olbertz said. "The jewellery has a value of over 11 million dollars -- I think 11.4, 11.5."
This will probably be an entry into the Guinness book of world records, Olbertz said, adding that Emirates Palace planned to contact the organisation about the tree which is to stay until the end of the year.
Asked if the tree might offend religious sensibilities in the United Arab Emirates, where the vast majority of the local population is Muslim, Olbertz said he did not think it would. "It's a very liberal country," he said.
The hotel has had a Christmas tree up in previous years, but this year "we said we have to do something different," and the hotel's marketing team hatched the plan, said Olbertz.
The tree is not the first extravagant offering from Emirates Palace -- a massive, dome-topped hotel sitting amid fountains and carefully manicured lawns.
The hotel, which bills itself as seven-star, in February introduced a package for a seven-day stay priced at one million dollars.
Takers of the package have a private butler and a chauffeur driven Maybach luxury car at their disposal during their stay, as well as a private jet available for trips to other countries in the region.
And in May, the hotel opened a gold vending machine, becoming the first place outside Germany to install "gold to go, the world's first gold vending machine," said Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the machine.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Diamond swapper nabbed
A MAN has been arrested for swapping real diamonds with replica diamond crystals at goldsmith shops.
Police arrested the 38-year-old suspect on Thursday night.
The man entered busy goldsmith stores, pretending as if he wanted to purchase a one-carat diamond and asking to examine it.
He would wait for the shop attendant to look away or attend to other customers before swapping the genuine diamond for the fake. The man would then leave the store claiming he needed more time to consider.
The suspect was caught near Yio Chu Kang MRT station in an operation staged on Thursday.
He will be tried in court for cheating on Saturday under Section 420 Chapter 224. If convicted, he faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine.
Police arrested the 38-year-old suspect on Thursday night.
The man entered busy goldsmith stores, pretending as if he wanted to purchase a one-carat diamond and asking to examine it.
He would wait for the shop attendant to look away or attend to other customers before swapping the genuine diamond for the fake. The man would then leave the store claiming he needed more time to consider.
The suspect was caught near Yio Chu Kang MRT station in an operation staged on Thursday.
He will be tried in court for cheating on Saturday under Section 420 Chapter 224. If convicted, he faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Pink diamond sells for record $46M at auction
London jeweler Laurence Graff paid $46,158,674, for the 24.78-carat "fancy intense pink" diamond, which he immediately named "The Graff Pink."
"It is the most fabulous diamond I've seen in the history of my career and I'm delighted to have bought it," Graff said in a statement released by auction house Sotheby's, which offered the stone at its Geneva sale.
The sale price was almost double the $24.3 million achieved by the blue 35.56-carat Wittelsbach-Graff diamond in 2008. That was also bought by Graff.
"This is the highest price ever bid for a jewel at auction," said David Bennett, the head of Sotheby's jewelry division, as the auction room in Geneva's luxury Beau Rivage hotel erupted into applause.
"Everybody was surprised it went that high," Mart van Drunen, a jeweler from Amsterdam, commented after the sale. "He clearly wants to have all the rarest diamonds in the world."
Rich buyers from developing countries have been dipping their hand in the high end of the market in recent years, but experts say emerging middle classes particularly in India are doing as much if not more to lift prices. Ongoing doubts about the stock market have also helped drive up the value of gold and precious jewels, said van Drunen.
Four bidders competed for the pink diamond, which was last sold 60 years ago by New York jeweler Harry Winston. The seller chose to remain anonymous, said Sotheby's.
Graff had the blue diamond recut after purchase, to the displeasure of purists who considered it an act of vandalism against a unique object. It wasn't immediately known whether he planned to alter the pink diamond, which Sotheby's says has a flaw unnoticeable to the naked eye but may be graded as internally flawless after re-polishing.
Sotheby's said it sold jewels worth $105.1 million Tuesday, also a world record for a single sale. The auction included items once belonging to Christina Onassis, the daughter of the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, and Cristina Ford, the second wife of Henry Ford's grandson Henry Ford II."I think this tells you a bit about the health of the market," Bennett told reporters after the sale.
A Sotheby's employee displays a 24.78 carat fancy intense pink emerald-cut diamond ring during an auction …
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Gold hits record on inflation worry, Europe debt
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold rose to a record for the fourth straight session on Tuesday as inflation worries and euro zone sovereign debt woes continue to lure investors to precious metals.
Spot silver hit a new 30-year high of $28.16, and palladium extended gains to a new nine-year peak of $714.25. Spot gold rose to an all-time high of $1,414.60 an ounce, before easing to $1,413.50 by 0706 GMT.
"Liquidity is being thrown into the market place, the dollar is being debased as a way the U.S. government can get out of debt obligations, while Asian central banks keep buying dollars and keep their currencies cheap," said a Singapore-based trader.
"Hard assets are just going to continue to benefit. There is a good argument for these metals to go up. There is a lot of momentum to buy."
The target for this round of rally could be $1,475 or even $1,500, in the next three weeks, the trader added.
Vietnam's central bank said it would relax a gold import ban and allow in "reasonable volumes" to stabilise the domestic market, a move that is expected support sentiment.
Holdings in the world's largest gold-backed exchange traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, gained 2.43 tonnes to 1,294.196 tonnes, their highest so far this month.
Gold is expected to rise towards $1,430 per ounce, as the uptrend is steady and a wave "5" is advancing, said Wang Tao, a Reuters technical analyst.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold rose to a record for the fourth straight session on Tuesday as inflation worries and euro zone sovereign debt woes continue to lure investors to precious metals.
Spot silver hit a new 30-year high of $28.16, and palladium extended gains to a new nine-year peak of $714.25. Spot gold rose to an all-time high of $1,414.60 an ounce, before easing to $1,413.50 by 0706 GMT.
"Liquidity is being thrown into the market place, the dollar is being debased as a way the U.S. government can get out of debt obligations, while Asian central banks keep buying dollars and keep their currencies cheap," said a Singapore-based trader.
"Hard assets are just going to continue to benefit. There is a good argument for these metals to go up. There is a lot of momentum to buy."
The target for this round of rally could be $1,475 or even $1,500, in the next three weeks, the trader added.
Vietnam's central bank said it would relax a gold import ban and allow in "reasonable volumes" to stabilise the domestic market, a move that is expected support sentiment.
Holdings in the world's largest gold-backed exchange traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, gained 2.43 tonnes to 1,294.196 tonnes, their highest so far this month.
Gold is expected to rise towards $1,430 per ounce, as the uptrend is steady and a wave "5" is advancing, said Wang Tao, a Reuters technical analyst.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Lunar New Year 2011 coins
Christmas is not even over... and UOB has already started to send out its brochure for the Gold Coins to usher in the year of the rabbits!
Must say that the collection for the 2011 Lunar New Year of the Rabbit looks pretty nice.
Personally, I have not purchased any such coins from UOB, as I purchase mine from Singapore Mint on a yearly basis.
So perhaps, this year, I will have an option?
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Beauty and you...
Getting sick and tired of your job?
Been in your old career for too long a time and thinking of changing your career to find a new you?
What about considering a career in beauty and aesthetics? Don’t have the skills? Fret not! Here’s the prefect antidote for you! Whether you are thinking about venturing into spa, beauty or wellness, there are many cosmetology colleges and/or aesthetic schools around to choose from, but how do you select the right one for your needs? Check out Spabeauty Schools, they have plenty of courses to select from!
SpaBeautySchools.com presents unparalleled performance-based advertising, marketing, and recruitment solutions. For aspiring spa professionals, the site offers detailed information on their educational options within their zip codes, informational resources, and articles highlighting career paths, profiles, as well as strategies for success.
If you are already in business, you might like to check out the Hair and Beauty Salon Business Plan: it is a great software to use for your business. From calculating start up capital, to inventory control for products and services, management strategy and management summary, all these information will definitely be at the tips of your fingers with just a click!
So what don’t the recommendations sound great? Why not try it today!
Been in your old career for too long a time and thinking of changing your career to find a new you?
What about considering a career in beauty and aesthetics? Don’t have the skills? Fret not! Here’s the prefect antidote for you! Whether you are thinking about venturing into spa, beauty or wellness, there are many cosmetology colleges and/or aesthetic schools around to choose from, but how do you select the right one for your needs? Check out Spabeauty Schools, they have plenty of courses to select from!
SpaBeautySchools.com presents unparalleled performance-based advertising, marketing, and recruitment solutions. For aspiring spa professionals, the site offers detailed information on their educational options within their zip codes, informational resources, and articles highlighting career paths, profiles, as well as strategies for success.
If you are already in business, you might like to check out the Hair and Beauty Salon Business Plan: it is a great software to use for your business. From calculating start up capital, to inventory control for products and services, management strategy and management summary, all these information will definitely be at the tips of your fingers with just a click!
So what don’t the recommendations sound great? Why not try it today!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
'Desirable' 38M dlr pink diamond up for auction
The 24.78 carat Fancy Intense Pink Diamond mounted on a ring comes from a private collection, the auction house said.The gemstone, rated among a type that accounts for just two percent of diamonds, was last seen on the market about 60 years ago when it was sold by legendary US jeweller Harry Winston.
"During my 35-year career at Sothebys I have had
the opportunity to examine many magnificent and rare gemstones and, put simply, this stone is one of the most desirable diamonds I have ever seen," said David Bennett, chairman for Europe and the Middle East at Sothebys international jewellery department."What makes it so immensely rare is the combination of its exceptional colour and purity with the classic emerald-cut -- a style of cutting normally associated with white diamonds," he added.
Sotheby's gave a pre-sale estimate of 27 to 38 million dollars for the fancy pink diamond, which will go under the hammer on November 16.
Blue, pink and green coloured diamonds are currently the most sought-after gemstones in auctions, according to the auction house.
Several elite auctioneers including rivals Christie's hold glittering jewellery sales every year in the western Swiss city's luxury hotels during one week in spring and autumn.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The 5Cs of your Business Insurance
Just as how jewellery needs insurance against theft, we too need insurance for our health…
As much as you know how to choose a diamond based on the theoretical 5 Cs of diamonds, how does one choose a personal health insurance plan? Sounds like a tough nut to crack is it? So can you imagine how much more difficult is it to get a group health insurance quote? Just imagine how many more factors there would be to consider from: co-insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and the details of the coverage!
Providing group health insurance for employees is a priority for many businesses, be it large or small, but the rising costs of group health policies are making it harder to choose the right one for your employees and your budget. Choose the right health plan for your business by understanding what’s available and how much it costs.
Understanding health plans for your business insurance quotes is much like understanding the differences between individual insurance plans. To keep both yourself and your employees happy you need to understand how much the plan costs for you, how much your employees are responsible for paying, and what the plan covers.
So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a fuss free business insurance policy.
As much as you know how to choose a diamond based on the theoretical 5 Cs of diamonds, how does one choose a personal health insurance plan? Sounds like a tough nut to crack is it? So can you imagine how much more difficult is it to get a group health insurance quote? Just imagine how many more factors there would be to consider from: co-insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and the details of the coverage!
Providing group health insurance for employees is a priority for many businesses, be it large or small, but the rising costs of group health policies are making it harder to choose the right one for your employees and your budget. Choose the right health plan for your business by understanding what’s available and how much it costs.
Understanding health plans for your business insurance quotes is much like understanding the differences between individual insurance plans. To keep both yourself and your employees happy you need to understand how much the plan costs for you, how much your employees are responsible for paying, and what the plan covers.
So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a fuss free business insurance policy.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
How to invest in gold and key price drivers
Reuters - Gold surges to a record above $1,313 an ounce on Wednesday after a spate of lacklustre U.S. data fuelled expectations the Fed may move towards further quantitative easing to help the economy, undermining the dollar.
Following are key facts about the market and different ways to invest in the precious metal.
HOW DO I INVEST?
SPOT MARKET
Large buyers and institutional investors generally buy the metal from big banks.
London is the hub of the global spot gold market, with more than $20 billion in trades passing through London's clearing system each day. To avoid cost and security risks, bullion is not usually physically moved and deals are cleared through paper transfers.
Other significant markets for physical gold are India, China, the Middle East, Singapore, Turkey, Italy and the United States.
FUTURES MARKETS
Investors can also enter the market via futures exchanges, where people trade in contracts to buy or sell a particular commodity at a fixed price on a certain future date.
The COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange is the world's largest gold futures market in terms of trading volume. The Tokyo Commodity exchange, popularly known as TOCOM, is the most important futures market in Asia.
China launched its first gold futures contract on Jan. 9, 2008. Several other countries, including India, Dubai and Turkey, have also launched futures exchanges.
EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS
The wider media coverage of high gold prices has also attracted investments into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which issue securities backed by physical metal and allow people to gain exposure to the underlying gold prices without taking delivery of the metal itself.
Gold held in New York's SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed ETF, rose to a record high of 1,320.436 tonnes in June. The ETF's holdings are equivalent to more than half global annual mine supply, and are worth some $54.9 billion at today's prices.
Other gold ETFs include iShares COMEX Gold Trust , ETF Securities' Gold Bullion Securities and ETFS Physical Gold, and Zurich Cantonal Bank's Physical Gold.
BARS AND COINS
Retail investors can buy gold from metals traders selling bars and coins in specialist shops or on the Internet. They pay a small premium for investment products, of between 5-20 percent above spot price depending on the size of the product and the weight of demand.
KEY PRICE DRIVERS:
INVESTORS
Rising interest in commodities, including gold, from investment funds in recent years has been a major factor behind bullion's rally to historic highs. Gold's strong performance in recent years has attracted more players and increased inflows of money into the overall market.
U.S. DOLLAR
Despite the recent drop in the usual strong correlation between gold and the euro-dollar exchange rate, the currency market still plays a major long-term role in setting the direction of gold.
Gold is a usually popular hedge against currency weakness. A weak U.S. currency also makes dollar-priced gold cheaper for holders of other currencies and vice versa.
This link sometimes breaks down in times of widespread financial market stress, however, as both gold and the dollar benefit from risk aversion. Their ratio turned positive in late 2008 and early 2009 after the Lehman Brothers crisis.
OIL PRICES
Gold has historically had a correlation with crude oil prices, as the metal can be used as a hedge against oil-led inflation. Strength in crude prices can also boost interest in commodities as an asset class. More recently this correlation has weakened, with gold prices continuing to rise in the last two years as oil prices retreated from record peaks.
FISCAL AND POLITICAL TENSIONS
The precious metal is widely considered a "safe haven", bought in a flight to quality during uncertain times.
Financial market shocks, as seen in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and more recently in the case of burgeoning euro zone debt problems, tend to boost inflows to gold.
Major geopolitical events including bomb blasts, terror attacks and assassinations can also induce price rises.
CENTRAL BANK GOLD RESERVES
Central banks hold gold as part of their reserves. Buying or selling of the metal by the banks can influence prices.
On Aug. 7, 2009, a group of 19 European central banks agreed to renew a pact to limit gold sales, originally signed in 1999 and renewed for a further five years in 2004.
Annual sales under the pact are limited to 400 tonnes, down from 500 tonnes in the second agreement, which expired in late September . Sales under the new pact have been low, however.
HEDGING
At the beginning of the 21st century, when gold prices were languishing around $300 an ounce, gold producers sold a part of their expected output with a promise to deliver the metal at a future date.
But when prices started rising, they suffered losses and there was a move to buy back their hedging positions to fully gain from higher market prices, a practice known as de-hedging.
Significant producer de-hedging can boost market sentiment and support gold prices. However, the rate of de-hedging has slowed markedly in recent years as the outstanding global hedge book shrank.
The world's biggest gold miner, Barrick Gold, cut its gold hedges by about 3 million ounces to eliminate its entire hedgebook in the fourth quarter of last year.
SUPPLY/DEMAND
Supply and demand fundamentals generally do not play as big a role in determining gold prices as those of other commodities because of huge above-ground stocks, now estimated at around 160,000 tonnes -- more than 60 times annual mine production.
Gold is not "consumed" like copper or oil.
Peak buying seasons in major consuming countries such as India and China exert some influence on the market, but others factors such as the dollar and financial risk carry more weight.
Following are key facts about the market and different ways to invest in the precious metal.
HOW DO I INVEST?
SPOT MARKET
Large buyers and institutional investors generally buy the metal from big banks.
London is the hub of the global spot gold market, with more than $20 billion in trades passing through London's clearing system each day. To avoid cost and security risks, bullion is not usually physically moved and deals are cleared through paper transfers.
Other significant markets for physical gold are India, China, the Middle East, Singapore, Turkey, Italy and the United States.
FUTURES MARKETS
Investors can also enter the market via futures exchanges, where people trade in contracts to buy or sell a particular commodity at a fixed price on a certain future date.
The COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange is the world's largest gold futures market in terms of trading volume. The Tokyo Commodity exchange, popularly known as TOCOM, is the most important futures market in Asia.
China launched its first gold futures contract on Jan. 9, 2008. Several other countries, including India, Dubai and Turkey, have also launched futures exchanges.
EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS
The wider media coverage of high gold prices has also attracted investments into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which issue securities backed by physical metal and allow people to gain exposure to the underlying gold prices without taking delivery of the metal itself.
Gold held in New York's SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed ETF, rose to a record high of 1,320.436 tonnes in June. The ETF's holdings are equivalent to more than half global annual mine supply, and are worth some $54.9 billion at today's prices.
Other gold ETFs include iShares COMEX Gold Trust , ETF Securities' Gold Bullion Securities and ETFS Physical Gold, and Zurich Cantonal Bank's Physical Gold.
BARS AND COINS
Retail investors can buy gold from metals traders selling bars and coins in specialist shops or on the Internet. They pay a small premium for investment products, of between 5-20 percent above spot price depending on the size of the product and the weight of demand.
KEY PRICE DRIVERS:
INVESTORS
Rising interest in commodities, including gold, from investment funds in recent years has been a major factor behind bullion's rally to historic highs. Gold's strong performance in recent years has attracted more players and increased inflows of money into the overall market.
U.S. DOLLAR
Despite the recent drop in the usual strong correlation between gold and the euro-dollar exchange rate, the currency market still plays a major long-term role in setting the direction of gold.
Gold is a usually popular hedge against currency weakness. A weak U.S. currency also makes dollar-priced gold cheaper for holders of other currencies and vice versa.
This link sometimes breaks down in times of widespread financial market stress, however, as both gold and the dollar benefit from risk aversion. Their ratio turned positive in late 2008 and early 2009 after the Lehman Brothers crisis.
OIL PRICES
Gold has historically had a correlation with crude oil prices, as the metal can be used as a hedge against oil-led inflation. Strength in crude prices can also boost interest in commodities as an asset class. More recently this correlation has weakened, with gold prices continuing to rise in the last two years as oil prices retreated from record peaks.
FISCAL AND POLITICAL TENSIONS
The precious metal is widely considered a "safe haven", bought in a flight to quality during uncertain times.
Financial market shocks, as seen in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and more recently in the case of burgeoning euro zone debt problems, tend to boost inflows to gold.
Major geopolitical events including bomb blasts, terror attacks and assassinations can also induce price rises.
CENTRAL BANK GOLD RESERVES
Central banks hold gold as part of their reserves. Buying or selling of the metal by the banks can influence prices.
On Aug. 7, 2009, a group of 19 European central banks agreed to renew a pact to limit gold sales, originally signed in 1999 and renewed for a further five years in 2004.
Annual sales under the pact are limited to 400 tonnes, down from 500 tonnes in the second agreement, which expired in late September . Sales under the new pact have been low, however.
HEDGING
At the beginning of the 21st century, when gold prices were languishing around $300 an ounce, gold producers sold a part of their expected output with a promise to deliver the metal at a future date.
But when prices started rising, they suffered losses and there was a move to buy back their hedging positions to fully gain from higher market prices, a practice known as de-hedging.
Significant producer de-hedging can boost market sentiment and support gold prices. However, the rate of de-hedging has slowed markedly in recent years as the outstanding global hedge book shrank.
The world's biggest gold miner, Barrick Gold, cut its gold hedges by about 3 million ounces to eliminate its entire hedgebook in the fourth quarter of last year.
SUPPLY/DEMAND
Supply and demand fundamentals generally do not play as big a role in determining gold prices as those of other commodities because of huge above-ground stocks, now estimated at around 160,000 tonnes -- more than 60 times annual mine production.
Gold is not "consumed" like copper or oil.
Peak buying seasons in major consuming countries such as India and China exert some influence on the market, but others factors such as the dollar and financial risk carry more weight.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Get your cuppa of creativity at Cafepress!
Fancy having customised movie posters or even stationery in your home? Or want that latest poster from movies after reading a review on Rotten Tomatoes?
What is CafePress? It is certainly not a food eatery!
They are a good online destination for expressing yourself through merchandise. From your favorite custom T-shirt and hoodie, to the tote bag over your shoulder and bumper sticker on your car, they have one hundred and one ways to let you express your interests through various forms of media.
CafePress is for people who love sharing their passions with others. You'll find individual designers with shops of all sizes, as well as corporate stores like Snoopy, E! Online, Stand Up To Cancer and more. With no upfront costs or inventory risk (we also take care of those thorny details of doing business online, so you can concentrate on sharing what's important to you), CafePress designers use their shops to connect with a world of members and other online shoppers. All while taking advantage of the latest developments in on-demand printing.
250million unique products
11 million unique visits per month
Roughly 45,000 new, unique products are added each day
2000 new, independent shops join the CafePress.com network each day
One site - CafePress!
Check out some cool designs:
Easy as ABC!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Golden Mooncakes, anyone?
A saleswoman presents four golden mooncakes in a jewery shop in Jinan' s Quancheng Road, east China's Shandong Province Sunday, September 17, 2006. The golden mooncakes, weighing between 10-30 grams, are designed with vivid resemblance to traditional ones. The mooncake is traditional food the Mid-autume Day, which falls on the 15th day of August in Chinese lunar calendar.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Gold hits new high on econ worries, weak dollar
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold surged to a new record and silver struck a new 2-½ year high on Friday on investor concerns over global economic prospects, while a weak dollar helped boost sentiment.
Spot gold hit a high of $1,280.1 an ounce, before easing to $1,279.2 by 0600 GMT, on course for a 2.9-percent rise from a week earlier, the sharpest in more than 3 months.
"Uncertain economic prospects, especially in the U.S., have helped gold continue to hit record highs," said Hou Xinqiang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in China. "Even though prices have gone higher, bullish sentiment in the market is still intensifying."
Data out of the U.S. on Thursday showed an improved job market, while factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic continued to contract in September , albeit at a slower pace.
The euro rose to a one-month high against the dollar, with dealers citing buying from real money investors, or long-term investors such as pension funds and life insurers.
"Gold in recent times has been tracking the fortunes of the euro," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia in Sydney. "Given that the euro has appreciated by a big figure against the U.S. dollar, it wasn't surprising to see gold not only test the $1,275 level but break through it."
"As we are trading gold around that number now, the momentum is very positive for potential testing of $1,300 in the next few days."
U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.6 percent to $1,280.9 an ounce.
Technical analysis showed that spot gold could rise to $1,286 an ounce as per a flag and pennant pattern, according to Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst.
Gold premium in Hong Kong was unchanged after it hit a record for a second time this week, at a premium of between 50 to 70 cents to spot London prices.
"There is not much scrap around these days. Selling is not too aggressive, unless the ETF turned around," said Ronald Leung, a physical dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong .
"Only if interest rates were raised, people's attitude towards gold would change from bullish to bearish. But for the near term, we don't see anything."
Spot silver vaulted to a 2-1/2-year high of $20.94 an ounce, and softened to 20.88, heading for a 5.7-percent weekly gain.
The gold/silver ratio, used to measure the ounces of silver needed to buy an ounce of gold, has been on a steady decline since late August. It stood at a nearly 8-month low of 61.27, way below the average of 64.38 over the past 28 years.
Spot platinum hit an intraday high of $1,617.5, within sight of a near 4-month peak of $1,618 hit in the previous session. Platinum is on course for a weekly gain of 5 percent, the sharpest in 8 months.
Palladium gained 1.4 percent to $552.5 an ounce, poised for a 7-percent gain from a week earlier, the biggest since late June.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold surged to a new record and silver struck a new 2-½ year high on Friday on investor concerns over global economic prospects, while a weak dollar helped boost sentiment.
Spot gold hit a high of $1,280.1 an ounce, before easing to $1,279.2 by 0600 GMT, on course for a 2.9-percent rise from a week earlier, the sharpest in more than 3 months.
"Uncertain economic prospects, especially in the U.S., have helped gold continue to hit record highs," said Hou Xinqiang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in China. "Even though prices have gone higher, bullish sentiment in the market is still intensifying."
Data out of the U.S. on Thursday showed an improved job market, while factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic continued to contract in September , albeit at a slower pace.
The euro rose to a one-month high against the dollar, with dealers citing buying from real money investors, or long-term investors such as pension funds and life insurers.
"Gold in recent times has been tracking the fortunes of the euro," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia in Sydney. "Given that the euro has appreciated by a big figure against the U.S. dollar, it wasn't surprising to see gold not only test the $1,275 level but break through it."
"As we are trading gold around that number now, the momentum is very positive for potential testing of $1,300 in the next few days."
U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.6 percent to $1,280.9 an ounce.
Technical analysis showed that spot gold could rise to $1,286 an ounce as per a flag and pennant pattern, according to Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst.
Gold premium in Hong Kong was unchanged after it hit a record for a second time this week, at a premium of between 50 to 70 cents to spot London prices.
"There is not much scrap around these days. Selling is not too aggressive, unless the ETF turned around," said Ronald Leung, a physical dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong .
"Only if interest rates were raised, people's attitude towards gold would change from bullish to bearish. But for the near term, we don't see anything."
Spot silver vaulted to a 2-1/2-year high of $20.94 an ounce, and softened to 20.88, heading for a 5.7-percent weekly gain.
The gold/silver ratio, used to measure the ounces of silver needed to buy an ounce of gold, has been on a steady decline since late August. It stood at a nearly 8-month low of 61.27, way below the average of 64.38 over the past 28 years.
Spot platinum hit an intraday high of $1,617.5, within sight of a near 4-month peak of $1,618 hit in the previous session. Platinum is on course for a weekly gain of 5 percent, the sharpest in 8 months.
Palladium gained 1.4 percent to $552.5 an ounce, poised for a 7-percent gain from a week earlier, the biggest since late June.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Lockets?
Fancy a locket?
No, lockets are no longer a thing of the past whereby they are just designed to be a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a curl of hair or even photographs!
No, lockets are no longer a thing of the past whereby they are just designed to be a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a curl of hair or even photographs!
Check out some cool silver lockets from PicturesOnGold.com They make use of amazing laser technology to insert your photos directly into lockets. The best thing is: you can send your pictures online via their website for them to customize your locket!
Try it today!
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