Why Is a Widening Gulf War Lifting Oil but Sinking Gold and Silver?

Macro Snapshot: The week ending 30 October brought the kind of news that once sent buyers into gold. Reuters reported the first known successful limpet-mine strike on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz since the war began in February, and Houthi forces claimed strikes on Saudi refineries. Washington ordered non-emergency government staff out of Saudi Arabia amid reports that US strikes on Iran could resume after the 3 November midterm elections. Brent rose 13.6% over October, with the expiring

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Why Is a Widening Gulf War Lifting Oil but Sinking Gold and Silver?

Macro Snapshot: The week ending 30 October brought the kind of news that once sent buyers into gold. Reuters reported the first known successful limpet-mine strike on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz since the war began in February, and Houthi forces claimed strikes on Saudi refineries. Washington ordered non-emergency government staff out of Saudi Arabia amid reports that US strikes on Iran could resume after the 3 November midterm elections. Brent rose 13.6% over October, with the expiring

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Zim Seeks to Boost Waning Diamond Industry

Harare: Zimbabwe’s finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the country should urgently address the “sector issues militating against efficient” production of diamonds. Although he could not spell out the challenges during his 2017 budget presentation, Harare’s decision to merge diamond mining operations in Marange had not yielded intended results. Although the erstwhile Marange diamond mining companies were accused of siphoning revenue,

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Belgian Government Adopts ‘Carat Tax’

Antwerp: The Belgian Parliament has officially adopted the ‘Diamond Regime’, commonly known as the ‘Carat Tax’, as the new fiscal system for the Antwerp diamond industry. The new system stipulates that companies will no longer be taxed on the basis of their profit but on a fixed percentage of their turnover – thereby eliminating complicated discussions with tax authorities about

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U.S. Fed Raises Rates by 25 Basic Points

New York: The US Federal Reserve on expected lines raised key interest rates by 25 basis points to between 0.50 per cent and 0.75 per cent on Wednesday, its second such hike since last December. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which concluded its two-day meeting, said that the inflation expectations have increased “considerably” and forecast a steeper path for

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Retail Investment Market Poised for Growth: WGC

Mumbai: The global gold bar and coin market has boomed in the past 10 years. In 2006 global demand was 430t; by 2015 it had more than doubled to 1,051t.  In monetary terms the growth is even more dramatic, surging from just under US$10bn to almost US$40bn, says the latest study report published by the World Gold Council (WGC). Several

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AGL Celebrates Five Years under New Management

New York, 15th April: American Gemological Laboratories (AGL), a provider of high-quality gemstone analysis and reporting is celebrating its five-year anniversary under the stewardship of Christopher P. Smith. “Five years ago, AGL was re-privatized during one of the most difficult periods the US and world financial markets have experienced in recent decades. AGL, however, had a good reputation and we did

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Gold Smuggling Arrests Jump 750% YoY in India

Mumbai, 14th April: While cases of gold smuggling in India have jumped 265% from 40 in 2012-13 to 146 in 2013-14, the number of people arrested has shot up by 750%, from 30 in 2012-13 to 255 in 2013-14, data from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence shows, according to a report published in Mineweb. “Gold imports through the legal channel have

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