Gold Prices Jump Above Rs. 31000 To 22-Month High, Stocks Fall

European stocks rose in early trading, with France’s CAC 40 climbing 1.1 percent to 4,175.76 and Germany’s DAX up 0.6 percent to 9,578.57.

Dow e-minis were up 51 points, or 0.29 percent, with 23,988 contracts changing hands.

(Kitco News) – Market anxiety is at extremely levels with just over one week to go before the United Kingdom referendum on whether or not to remain part of the EU and European and British investors appear to be flocking to gold.

Silver XAG= fell 0.4 percent to $17.43 an ounce, platinum XPT= lost 0.1 percent to $969.67 and palladium XPD= was up 0.2 percent at $533.11. “Fed policy is shaping up to be long-term supportive of gold, in our view”. Wells Fargo declined 2.27 percent and JPMorgan Chase lost 1.88 percent. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.27 percent to 896.30 tons on Monday, the highest since October 2013. Benchmarks in New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines also declined.

Stocks to watch: NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) shares rose 1.3% premarket after the chip company said late Monday it agreed to sell its “standard products” business to a Chinese consortium for $2.75 billion. Traders, for the most part, ignored the International Energy Agency’s declaration that the oil market is now in balance.

Industrial production data for the month, however, is expected to show the continued pressure of weaker Global demand, a strong US dollar and general weakness in manufacturing. The index has trimmed losses to 1.23% so far in June, after advancing 3.04% in May.

That sparked a sharp move higher in gold, which is highly sensitive to rising rates.

QUOTEWORTHY: “It’s definitely possible that we’re seeing state intervention today”, said Angus Nicholson at IG Markets in Sydney.

Gold fell from the previous session’s six-week high ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision later on Wednesday, although concern over an upcoming vote on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) underpinned prices.

Spot gold was up 1 per cent at $1,303.91 an ounce at 1148 GMT, while USA gold futures for August delivery were up $19.10 an ounce at $1,307.40. Brent crude, used to price global oils, fell 77 cents to $49.57 per barrel in London. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the USA currency against a basket of six rivals that includes the euro, yen, pound, franc, Canadian dollar and krona, rose 0.4% to 95.01. At the same time gold priced in euro rallied to a session high of €1,150.20 an ounce, its highest level since early May.