India's appetite for gold insatiable as ever

It's seen as a portable form of wealth in a country where stocks and bonds are sometimes viewed with suspicion. As the Indian economy steams ahead by more than eight percent annually in the past four years, an ever increasing stream of money is going into gold purchases. Over generations, Indian households have accumulated an estimated 15,000 tonnes of gold worth $320 billion -- 40 times the amount of gold held by the country's central bank and nearly double the amount held by the U.S. central bank. "Gold is considered an investment for life, so Indian women continue buying it, to be given away to their daughters or grand-daughters," said Rashmi Sanyal, a journalist in New Delhi. Gold is important for people hit by floods that kill hundreds and displace millions in India every year, as it means villagers faced with the dangers of flooding can carry their wealth with them

Gold flirts with $660

June 18 (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures closed higher Monday, building off last week's gains to close near the $660 level as traders eyed movements in the U.S. dollar and continued to gauge inflation concerns and the likelihood of an interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The COMEX August gold contract climbed $1.20 to close at $659.90, marking its strongest closing level since June 7. The benchmark contract, which climbed as high as $662.50 during Monday's trading session, rose $2.80 an ounce last Friday to score a total gain of $8.40 for the week. "The precious complex staged a modest rebound Friday as tame CPI data curbed expectation for the Fed to hike interest rates, leading the dollar to give back some of its recent gains," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. In currencies trading, Japan's yen touched a 4 1/2-year low against the dollar and fell to a new all-time low against the euro. In other economic news, The outlook for U.S. home building is the worst in 16 years, the National Association of Home Builders reported Monday. The builders' housing index fell by 2 points to 28 points in June. The Commerce Department will release its latest report on May housing starts and building permits on Tuesday

Oil Prices Up on Nigerian Strike Threat

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil closed above $69 a barrel, a nine-month high, and gasoline futures also rose Monday after Nigerian oil unions called a strike for this week.
Retail gas prices, meanwhile, continued their decline despite analyst predictions Friday that they would fall no further.Nigerian oil unions called a general nationwide strike to begin Wednesday in protest of a government price hike on automobile fuel. Also supporting energy prices were attacks on two Nigerian oil facilities by angry villagers and gunmen, which cut oil output.
"You've got kind of a double-whammy out of Nigeria," said Kevin Saville, managing editor for the Americas energy desk at Platts, the energy research arm of the McGraw-Hill Cos.
Nigeria was the third-biggest exporter of oil to the U.S. in March, behind Canada and Mexico, with an average of 1.35 million barrels a day, according to Energy Department statistics.

Petrochemical woes in the pipeline

The European petrochemicals industry is coming under increasing strain from two distinct quarters. First, rich oil-producing Middle East countries and China are investing heavily to capture a bigger share of the world market for these basic chemical products.
Second, European regulations, however well-intentioned, are placing a further heavy burden on the continent's big petrochemicals groups. This is making it even harder for them to compete with the new capacity, which will soon be flowing out of the developing world.

DJ PRECIOUS METALS: NY Platinum Up; Rustenburg Output Suspended

A temporary halt to output at a South African mine enabled platinum futuresto post a strong gain Monday while the rest of the precious-metals complex wasslightly mixed, analysts and traders said. July platinum settled up $13.50 to $1,299.50 an ounce and peaked at $1,302,its strongest level in a week. This occurred after Anglo Platinum, the world's largest producer of platinum,said it intends to suspend production at its Rustenburg mine for about sevendays to implement safety measures following the deaths of five workers in thelast two weeks. "That's pretty big news in the platinum arena," said one trader. This is expected to trim 2007 output by 10,000 to 15,000 ounces. "That's a pretty tight market. So that's the driving force there," said BillO'Neill, one of the principals with LOGIC Advisors. "And demand for platinum continues to be absolutely excellent on a globalbasis, with very strong industrial demand from Asia in particular. Any littledisruption (in supplies) is enough to throw it into deficit-productioncommodity."

US gold ends strong with oil surge, soft dollar

NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures finished higher on Monday, racing up to their highest prices in 10 days as they tracked crude oil's rally to a 10-month high above $72 a barrel, traders said.
Dollar weakness against the euro also kept gold prices supported. A weaker dollar tends to bolster investment in dollar-denominated assets like gold in overseas markets.
"(Gold rallied on) strength in the oil, and initially we had strength in the base metals, but that sold off later in the day, and (there was) clearly some weakness in the dollar against other currencies. Those are all factors that have been pushing gold around as of late," said Andy Montano, a director at ScotiaMocatta in Toronto.

Why Gold Bulls Should Fear China

The Shanghai Gold Exchange is reportedly working with gold producers and banks to develop new gold market debt derivatives, and because of their potential structure, the move could ultimately put downward pressure on the precious metal.
While at first blush it may seem to be a benign undertaking, it might in fact mark the start of a worrying trend -- the return of producer hedging.
Hedging is where miners enter into contracts to sell the metal they mine at a predetermined price, which doesn't vary from day-to-day as it does in the spot market.