“Gold From The ATM” In Turkey

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Gold rose $21.80 or 1.26% in New York on Friday and closed at $1,751.20. Silver hit a high of $34.16 and finished with a gain of 2.19%. Gold was up 2.28% for the week and silver soared 5.61% for the week.

Gold edged down on a Monday as speculators took their profits as prices rallied on thin volumes on Friday to their highest in a month on technical buying.  A strong fall in the greenback triggered rapid gains in commodities and options-related buying on Friday.

Tonight US Congress will meet to attempt to devise a plan to avert the US fiscal cliff which will throw the US into a spiral of tax hikes and budgetary cuts that will lead the US economy deeper into a recession this January.

Another short term ‘resolution’ will almost certainly be achieved which will allow the US to keep spending like a broke drunken sailor and which will again store up far greater fiscal and monetary problems. The scale of these deep rooted structural challenges is so great that they are likely to affect the US sooner rather than later.

The euro racked up a seven month high against the yen and is holding near a one month high against the US dollar as the meetings amongst Greek creditors continue and hope to reach an outcome today.

Greece’s goal is reducing the 190% debt to GDP ratio to a more manageable 120% in eight to ten years. The dilemma is that the IMF and eurozone finance ministers want to cease payments until a new deal is agreed because they have no guarantee that the financing won’t continue indefinitely.

Can Greek debt become manageable without creditors writing off some of the loans?  France and Italy would vote to reduce interest repayments on already granted loans while other countries like Germany would not.

A consensus was reached when German central bank governor Jens Weidmann suggested that Greece could "earn" a reduction in debt it owes to euro zone governments in a few years if it diligently implements all the agreed reforms. The European Commission also supports this view.

Global investment demand for gold remains robust with the amount in exchange-traded products backed by the metal rising 0.1% to 2,606.3 metric tons.

Meanwhile reports of the death of the Indian gold buyer have again been greatly exaggerated as India's net gold import for domestic consumption is likely to be about 800 tonnes this year following a pick-up in demand during the festive season, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).

Last year, the net import for domestic consumption was 969 tonnes. This is a significant fall but not surprising considering the sharply rising price. It shows that the Indian cultural attachment to gold will continue and India may be becoming acclimatised to higher gold prices. 

This week US economic data for Tuesday include Durable Orders, the Case-Shiller 20-city Index, Consumer Confidence, and the FHFA Housing Price Index.  On Wednesday, New Home Sales and the Fed’s Beige Book are published. On Thursday, Initial Jobless Claims, GDP, and Pending Home Sales can be viewed.  Friday’s data is Personal Income and Spending, Core PCE Prices, and Chicago PMI.

Gold deposits in Turkey have grown from 3.1 billion liras to 16 billion liras in the past year, Bloomberg reported on news reported in the daily Turkish newspaper Aksam which cited Denizbank AS gold banking group manager Cem Turgut Gelgor.

According to the Turkish bank Denizbank, one of the largest in Turkey, it collected 1.5 tons of gold in 7 months.

Deposits have increased from 500 kg to over 6 tons or over 192,000 ounces (worth some €260 million) over an unspecified period.

Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi AS has added 3.8 tons of gold, Aksam quotes Kuveyt Turk product development group manager Mustafa Dereci as saying. Dereci said that Kuveyt Turk is providing new products such as “gold from the ATM.”

The World Gold Council estimates that there are around 5,000 tons of gold remaining outside the financial system, gold which the Turkish people have prudently accumulated over the years as a store of wealth to protect from currency depreciation and debasement.

Gold jewellery producer and wholesaler Karakas Atlantis Kiymetli Madenler AS is “working to bring unregistered gold into the system,” Chairman Kamil Karakas says in e-mailed statement today reported on by Bloomberg.

The gold wholesaler is meeting regularly with jewelers and banks in effort to draw unregistered gold assets into financial system.

Separately Turkey is aiming to position itself as a leading player in the gold jewellery and bullion industry by also becoming one of the leading gold and precious metal refining countries in the world.

Turkey is at a level to compete with international gold refining centers like Germany and Switzerland, Istanbul Gold Exchange deputy chairman Osman Sarac said today according to Dunya newspaper.

Turkey imports scrap gold mostly from Germany and the United Arab Emirates, the gold is turned into standard bullion coins and bars in Turkish refineries and exported.

Turkey imported 114.8 tons of gold by Nov. 14 this year, of which 46.6 tons was scrap, according to Istanbul Gold Exchange data.