Monday, May 30, 2011

SILVER PRICES ON THE WATCH



I am looking at silver prices and even though everyone hesitates to buy due to high price of silver, I would still say I will go for it. I would buy silver whenever I have the extra money.

Currently price is at USD38.12/oz. Even though the last 2 weeks, the prices were favoured (between USD34/0z – USD36/oz), the price has already bounced. Looking at it positively, even at USD38.12/oz, it is still a discounted price from the peak at USD48.70/oz on 28th April, 2011. The current price is 78.3% cheaper than the highest price, a discount of 21.7%. You like buying on a discount, don't you? All of us do.


Why do I say that silver is still cheap?

Look at the projected silver prices…

  1. Stephen Leeb - Silver should be $150/oz today
  2. Jonathan Quek in NST - Silver could rise to $156!

If I buy silver now at USD38.12/oz and it rises to USD150/oz, WOW! That is almost 4 times my investment amount (3.93 times to be exact). Say that the targeted prices will only be reached in 10 years' time, that s 393% in 10 years or 39.3% per annum. That is better than most investment I know. What if it happens sooner than 10 years? What do you think? Do you like the idea?

Think about it ...

Next question that you will ask is where to buy? Call me to buy Public Gold Silver bars or message me in Facebook.com/DinaTalib.

Public Gold current prices for silver bars can be sighted at the right hand side of this blog.

Have fun investing!



Listen to this :


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

UTAH LEGALIZES GOLD, SILVER AS CURRENCY, MORE STATES TO FOLLOW?

Utah has now made official the use of gold and silver coins as legal tender.

This marks the first time since 1971 that any government entity in the United States has legalized the use of gold and silver as currency.

The law, signed by Governor Gary Herbert, does not require citizens to pay or accept payment in gold or silver, but rather offers an alternative to the fiat-based Federal Reserve note.

The Utah law will also exempt the sale of gold and silver coins from state capital gains taxes, according to the Associated Press.

The idea was developed by Republican state Representative Brad Galvez, who sponsored the bill primarily as a protest against the reckless monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. Rep. Galvez stated that the American people are losing faith in the dollar and a sound monetary alternative is necessary.

“We’re too far down the road to go back to the gold standard,” Galvez contended. “This will move us toward an alternative currency.”

Larry Hilton, a Utah attorney who assisted in the drafting of Utah’s law, asserted that “We view this as a dollar-friendly measure. It will strengthen the dollar by refocusing policy matters in Washington on what led to the phrase, ‘the dollar is as good as gold.’”

Ralph Danker, project director for economics at American Principles in Action in Washington, D.C., which also helped draft Utah’s legislation, stated that ”Making gold and silver coins legal tender sends a strong signal to Congress and the Federal Reserve that their monetary policy is failing. The dollar should be backed by gold and silver, so we have hard money.”

The AP also noted that “Earlier this month, Minnesota took a step closer to joining Utah in making gold and silver legal tender. A Republican lawmaker there introduced a bill that sets up a special committee to explore the option. North Carolina, Idaho and at least nine other states also have similar bills drafted.”

Original Source


FAQs ON PUBLIC GOLD

What is Public Gold?

Public Gold allows individual customers to invest in physical gold in a convenient, more secure and cheaper way. Customers can purchase gold in 999.9 fineness at all Public Gold Branches at daily quoted gold prices for 20g, 50g, 100g and 500g in Malaysian Ringgit.


Why would you want to invest in Public Gold?

Public Gold is one of the best ways for a customer to build up a personal gold portfolio by purchasing small amounts of gold on regular basis over a period of time. This "cost averaging" will ensure that the total gold investment will be acquired at the average gold price.

What are the benefits of having a Public Gold?

There are a number of benefits to customers and these include :

· Convenience of investing in gold at any Public Gold branch in Malaysia.

· It is secure, as it in physical forms.

· It is cheaper as the gold prices quoted will be pegged to international gold prices without the usual additional charges.

· Customers can invest in small amounts at a time i.e. minimum 20 grams.

· There is opportunity for capital gain if the gold price appreciates.

· Gold can be a hedge against inflation.


How would you make a capital gain from investing in Public Gold?

Internationally, the gold price is quoted in US Dollar per ounce. For Public Gold, the gold price will be converted to the Malaysian Ringgit . You will make a capital gain if the gold price appreciates.


When is the right time to purchase gold?

The right time would be when the gold price is low.


Will the gold price quoted daily be better than at goldsmith shops?

The price of gold quoted daily will be pegged to the international gold price and will definitely be better than goldsmith shops.


What is Bullion?

Means melting place, from the French bouillon, boiling, derived from the Latin bullio). A bullion is a precious metal (Gold) that is valued by its weight in a specific precious metal. Unlike commemorative or numismatic coins which are valued by limited mintage, rarity, condition and age, bullion coins are purchased by investors seeking a simple and tangible means to invest.


Why invest in gold bullion?

Making the precious metals part of your financial planning is becoming one of the rules of good investment strategy. And people like the idea of holding something of real value in their hands, instead of trusting everything to a bank or broker. The economic forces that affect the price of precious metals are different from, and often are opposed to, the forces which determine the price of most common financial assets. This independent movement of precious metals to other financial assets can reduce overall portfolio volatility and contributes balance.

Whether you are conservative or aggressive in your investment approach, precious metals can represent an important part of your asset allocation. Some experts suggest that 10-15% of portfolio assets be in precious metals. No matter what level of risk an investor wishes to take, every portfolio needs a secure foundation. Gold are one of the most liquid of all investments. It is readily portable. It is easy to store. It is recognized in every country. It is easily and discreetly bought and sold. It can be easily converted to cash at any time.


What should I buy coins or bars?

Bars

For the serious and large scale investor, gold bars are a simple and efficient way to invest in gold. The larger bars are usually available at the lowest premiums over their intrinsic gold value, smaller bars tend to cost more. There is a trade-off however, in that larger bars are not as flexible when it comes to selling. If you own a kilo bar, and you wish to sell, say 3 ounces, it’s not easy to slice off one end of your bar. Your choice of buyer is also more restricted as you will need to sell to a larger dealer, it is unlikely that you will find a private buyer as most people are not familiar with gold bullion bars.

Coins

It is sensible to consider modern one ounce gold bullion coins as being one ounce circular bullion bars. As coins are individually minted they in themselves provide their own authenticity and are available at very competitive prices compared with similar size bars. Because gold bullion coins are almost universally recognised, they are also easy to resell.


What is the spot price?

The Spot Price is the internationally agreed price, based on supply and demand, for a 1 troy ounce of gold. Spot prices can change every minute.


What is a Troy Ounce?

A troy ounce is the traditional unit of weight for precious metals.

One troy ounce = 31.104 grams 32.151 oz = 1 Kilogram


Why do I pay a premium over the spot price?

When you buy any bullion product you are buying a precious metal that has been manufactured and minted into a tradeable form. The premium over the spot price is made up of this manufacturing cost.


What is meant by the Margin Spread?

When you buy precious metal you pay a premium above the live spot price, (Lets say 6%). When you come to sell your precious metal you receive a price below the live spot rate (say 1%) Therefore in this example the margin spread is 7 percentage points.


Where can I sell my precious metals?

Because Gold is an international standard you will be able to trade coins and bars in most countries in the world.

Public Gold offer the most competitive buy back rates in Malaysia.


How do I purchase Gold Bullion?

You can call our Authorised Dealers or Public Gold at +604-6449999 (Main Office), or +604-2619999 (Bishop Branch).


When do I need to pay for my precious metal order?

Public Gold will provide its Ringgit Malaysia account details in the contract that has been emailed or faxed to you. You must arrange for a credit to this account and confirm payment (Cash, Internet Banking, Bank to Bank transfer or Eftpos) within one and a half hours. We require this confirmation as most deposits will not process until overnight. If you do not provide this confirmation Public Gold retains the right to cancel your order.


Do I have to pay any commission on my purchase?

While many institutions and dealers charge a commission on trading precious metals, Public Gold does not charge commission.


What forms of payments does Public Gold accept?

As is international practice in trading precious metals, Public Gold only accepts the following forms of payment, telegraphic transfer, credit card and Internet Banking.


When can I take delivery of my purchase?

This will somewhat dependent on our product schedule but you can expect to take physical possession of your purchase within 5 working days.


How are Public Gold coins packaged?

Each coin will be inside individual plastic sleeve to protect them from being scratched or marked by fingerprints. Each coin will be accompanied with Public Gold official Certificate of Authenticity.


Do Public Gold margin spread always be maintained at 5% to 6%?

Yes. It will be maintained under normal political and social circumstances. But not during extreme market conditions, such as financial and economic critical, social unrest, political unstable and war. The margin spread will be special adjusted when these conditions happening.


Original Source



Tuesday, May 10, 2011

SILVER OUTSHINES GOLD, BUT FOR HOW LONG?

Silver Outshines Gold, But For How Long?


Silver has outshone gold this year with a spectacular 19% rise in price in April alone. Can silver continue its breathless run, or will it come crashing down?
Jim Rogers, renowned commodity bull who launched the Quantum Fund with George Soros, thinks silver prices will go higher.

"Silver has certainly gone up a lot in the last 9-10 months. There is no question about that, but remember, silver is still 10% below where it was 31 years ago," he said in an interview last week. "I bet you do not know many things that are 10% below where they were 31 years ago."

Despite the rally, the price of silver remains depressed, according to Rogers. "I prefer to look at the things that are still depressed. Natural gas is depressed compared to oil, silver is depressed compared to gold. I would rather look at the things within those sectors to see what are the things that are still depressed and see if, maybe, that is where we should be putting money."

Indeed, Rogers is shorting U.S. Treasuries as he believes they will collapse once the second tranche of quantitative easing (QE2) ends in June and the U.S. Federal Reserve comes back with QE3.

Despite his long-term bullishness, Rogers remains worried about the rapid rise in silver prices. "I own silver, but if it keeps going up, it could turn into a problem if it goes parabolic... I certainly hope silver goes down for a while. I say it as somebody who owns it because if it goes down, I hope I would buy more and if it goes up too much too fast, then I have to sell."

"I do not have any prices in my targets. If suddenly World War III breaks out, then I would not sell silver at $200 this year. So it depends on what's happening and what's causing this."

On April 28, price of silver touched a new 31-year high of $49.82 per ounce, just short of its $50.35 all-time record high in 1980, when brothers William Herbert and Nelson Bunker Hunt famously tried to 'corner the market'. (It did not turn out too well for the brothers as a U.S. court conspired to manipulate the price of silver. The metal had risen from $11 to $50.35, before a hard landing back to $11 soon after).

Silver has gained more than 145 per cent in the past year, and 19 per cent in April alone. On April 7, a GFMS-Silver Institute survey predicted the average price of silver at around $50. "2011 may well see silver reach or even exceed $50/oz, in part basis strong probability of gold peaking comfortably above $1,600/oz."

With silver on the verge of breaching new highs, many analysts are talking about a bubble in the market. It is the same naysayers who have been calling for a gold crash for years.

Certainly, silver does seem to have had a breathless run even compared to other metals:



Here are the key factors that could drive silver prices this year:

1. Fate of the U.S. economy. If the U.S. economy continues to falter and Federal Reserve returns with a third round of quantitative easing, U.S. dollar will fall further, leading to more investment plowing into gold and, as a spillover, into silver.

2. The gold:silver ratio has fallen sharply to 37:1 just recently, compared with an average of 62:1 in 2010. The gold/silver ratio is an important barometer for many commodity investors. If the ratio narrows, silver prices are seen to be doing better than gold prices.

When gold prices hit $850 in 1980 - the last time the price of silver was at this year's level - , the gold/silver ratio narrowed down to 17. The same ratio at these ratios, means silver could hit $80-$100, according to a range of analysts.



3. Like gold, silver is a hedge against inflation. Certainly the European Central Bank is worried and has recently raised interest rates to rein in inflation under its target of 2%. Inflation is already as issue in emerging markets and any sign of more easy money, especially from the U.S. Fed, will depreciate dollar strength. That, in turn, will raise oil and food prices, thus improving the case for commodity buying.

4. Silver is now the poor man's gold, as the high price of the yellow metal has made it difficult for many investors to get in.

5. But silver is also more prone to price volatility than gold. "Silver's traditional high price volatility and trading range are factors to consider: Already year-to-date $13 trading range ($26.68-$39.63) and average Q1 2011 price volatility 39.6% (gold 12.9%)," says GFMS.

"Investment will remain the main driver of the price. Silver's greater volatility in a smaller and less liquid market than gold is attractive to certain investors, with many now eyeing the all-time-high of $50/oz."

6. Suki Cooper, analyst with Barclays Capital, says silver prices could "see a sharper drop" than gold in the event of a precious metals sell-off, as a result of silver's "heavy bias towards retail demand... I think the real concern is if we see a slowdown in coin sales, or a slowdown in ETFs, the fundamental support for prices is much lower than where we are at the moment. I think we could see a much sharper correction in silver if investor interest starts to slow down across gold and silver."

"We think the industrial demand growth looks good, but not strong enough to drive prices where they are at the moment," she said. "We still have a market in a hefty surplus. So we think that support from the fundamentals is going to be much lower for silver in comparison to gold because in gold we've seen good physical demand materializing every time we've seen the price dip, providing a cushion for prices."

7. Demand for silver remains strong. GFMS says industrial demand in 2010 rose 20.7%, "a fraction shy of the pre-crisis record in 2008."

"Main drivers of the strong rise were continued robust emerging market economies growth, industrialized world's recovery from recession and pipeline restocking."

A significant boost in retail silver investment demand paved the way for higher investment in both physical bullion bars and in coins and medals in 2010. Physical bullion bars accounted for 55.6 Moz of the world investment total last year, says GFMS. "Increasing a hefty 47 percent last year to 178.0 Moz, implied net silver investment recorded its all-time high. Much of the increase was due to ETFs, the over-the-counter market, and investment in physical bars."

8. World silver production rose by 2%, or 17.6 Moz last year, to a new record high of 735.9 Moz. Adding to supply are governments who have also been selling silver with Russia leading the way. Government sales estimated at 44.8 Moz in 2010, up by a massive 188% on the previous year's level.

However, the new trend could well be central banks buying gold, which could lead to another bout of silver buying as well.

9. However, many investment banks seem unimpressed by silver's rally. Goldman Sachs price for silver in the next 12 months is $28.2, almost half of its current price. Bank of America Merrill Lynch's silver price forecast for 2011 is $29.5.

UBS analyst Mark Bulsing says: "While further advances in the short run cannot be ruled out, we do not expect current levels to be sustained," adding that he saw prices returning to around $34 this year, even though there may be a spike to US$55."

© alifarabia.com 2011 Original document

GOLD & SILVER PRICE MOVEMENT MAY 2011


Source : kitco.com

From the two charts above we can see that the prices are at a lower price from the peak. They have dropped last week and it will pick up soon. Those who have been waiting for the high prices of gold & silver to reduce to buy, this will be a good time to buy.


GOLD PRICES

At the point of writing, the gold price is at USD 1522.80/oz. For PG gold prices the price are as follows :




PG has introduced 10g gold bar last week, available for purchase. See the price movement every 20 minutes at the left hand side of this blog.
Do note that the peak of gold price is at USD1565.70/oz on 29th April, 2011



SILVER PRICES

Also, at the point of writing, the silver price is at USD 38.50/oz. Ratio of 39.55:1 to gold. For PG silver bars, the prices are as follows :-


The silver price peaks at around USD48.70/oz. The price now is 20% cheaper than the peak price. Why wait to buy? The silver price may not be any cheaper than today's price.



WHY YOU WANT TO BUY SILVER INSTEAD OF GOLD?
  1. higher rate of return
  2. easier to keep due to non-recognition of the silver bar
  3. good for long term investment
  4. usage of silver is higher
  5. high ratio between gold & silver


WHY YOU WANT TO BUY GOLD INSTEAD OF SILVER?

  1. easier to keep due to smaller in size
  2. easier to get cash
  3. lower spread

EQUAL BENEFITS OF BUYING BOTH GOLD AND SILVER BARS
  1. easy to buy
  2. easy to sell
  3. higher rate of return compared to any other investment
  4. minimum maintenance cost
  5. you own them

Do not hesitate to buy gold bars & silver bars. The bars comes with Authentification & Certificate from Independent Assayer. BUY ONE NOW.