good find.
This also bodes well for gold. Bodes real well, cause when the banks stop selling, there aint no more available and the price wil react accordingly.
As it did today:
Gold hits 2-month high; central banks seen selling less gold
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Tuesday for a fourth session, climbing to the highest level in two months, as the U.S. dollar remained at 10-month low and as a consultancy forecast that global central banks will sell the lowest amount of gold in 15 years this year.
GFMS of London said Monday that signatories of the Central Bank Gold Agreement are expected to sell about 140 metric tons this year, the lowest level since 1994. The firm also said last week that second-quarter supply of scrap gold plummeted by more than 40% from the previous quarter to 350 metric tons.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, August gold futures rose $10.90, or 1.1%, to end at $967.50 an ounce, the highest settlement price since early June. The contract rose to $969.50 earlier. The more active December contract was up 1.1% to $969.70.
"Funds are gunning hard to try for higher ground and do more punching of the shorts, once the $965 area was trampled upon," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc. But "without ETF support, corrections will not be pretty."
"An even more relevant factor supporting the gold price is that the supply of gold scrap plummeted ... and full-year official gold sales could reach a 15-year low this year," analysts led by Barbara Lambrecht at Commerzbank said in a note.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!gld/quotes/nls/gld (GLD 94.78, +0.06, +0.06%) , the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, stood at 1,072.87 metric tons Monday, unchanged from a day ago, according to the latest data from the fund. Holdings dropped nearly 50 metric tons in July.
Also helping gold move higher, the U.S. dollar remained near the lowest level since late September, although the greenback climbed slightly in Tuesday trading. A weaker dollar tends to push gold prices higher as it increases the metal's investment appeal.
Net official gold sales slumped to 39 metric tons in the first half of 2009, down 73% from a year ago, GFMS said Monday.
The majority of gold sales came from countries that have signed the CBGA, while non-CBGA countries were overall net buyers. The CBGA's signatories sold 92 metric tons of gold in the first half, GFMS said.
In other metals, September copper rose 5.7 cents, or 2%, to end at $2.7955 a pound, a 10-month high.
September silver gained 44.3 cents, or 3.1%, to $14.695 an ounce. October platinum added $37.10, or 3%, to $1,276.80 an ounce, while September palladium rose $6.30, or 2.3%, to $280.90 an ounce.
Economic data
The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.4% in June and personal income declined 1.3%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected income to fall 1.2% and spending to increase 0.3%. See Currencies.
Boosted by low interest rates and bargain home prices, pending sales of existing homes rose in June for the fifth straight month, the longest streak of gains since 2003, a real estate trade group reported Tuesday. See full story.
In energy trading, oil futures fell below $71 a barrel, giving up some of the previous session's gains, as falling stock-index futures and expectations of rising supplies soured sentiment in the energy markets. See Futures Movers.
Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.
