Precious Metals Surge After Air Strikes In Syria, Chinese Data

New York (Sept 23)   The precious metals complex and most base metals have a stronger tone after strong Chinese economic data. Also, some of the boost in precious metals has been tied to air strikes against Islamic State strongholds in Syria. “All it took was a better-than-expected economic number out of China last night to partially shift sentiment in the metals space,” says TD Securities. “While yesterday all the metals were ‘red,’ today we are greeted with ‘green’...with platinum and palladium leading the charge. “

A key impetus was an HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for China that came in at 50.5 for September, versus the expected 50.0, the firm says. The base metals are near steady to higher, led by a 1.1% gain by nickel. “Gold has traded towards our short-term resistance zone, with further pre-New York open buying popping us over $1,235, and we expect producers to take advantage with cleaning up inventory ahead of the 30 September quarter end,” TDS says.

“Silver has also shown some life and is consolidating on yesterday's move towards $18.” Meanwhile, Commerzbank also cites buying in gold due to geopolitical factors. “In an alliance with a number of Arab states, the U.S. has launched air strikes against the IS terrorist group in Syria, evidently sparking greater demand for gold as a safe haven,”

Commerzbank says. “Just yesterday, gold had fallen to $1,208 per troy ounce on the back of a firmer U.S. dollar, its lowest level since the beginning of January.” As of 7:45 a.m. EDT, Comex December gold was $15.50 higher to $1,233.40 an ounce, December silver was up 12.1 cents to $17.895, October platinum was up $16.50 to $1,346.70 and December palladium climbed $15.15 to $818.30.

Source:  KitcoNews