July Gold News 2019

The fourth Central Bank Gold Agreement, signed by the European Central Bank and 21 other national central banks, is due to expire on September 26 this year.

The decision not to renew the CBGA could be the starting pistol for European national banks to renew investing in physical gold, in a diversification effort to rival that of Russia and China for the past year.

Early trading saw the value of Sterling fall to a two-year low of $1.2358, with talk of a no-deal Brexit growing over the weekend thanks to comments from Michael Gove.

Following several weeks of voting, Boris Johnson has won the Conservative Leadership contest, and will tomorrow formally become the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The UK Border Force last month seized $5 million worth of gold bars travelling from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland via London, officials have confirmed.

The gold haul, weighing 104 kilograms or 3,343.68 troy ounces, is suspected to be connected to South American drug cartels and with the intent of being laundered.

The US Dollar is overvalued according to the latest International Monetary Fund report. The report is likely to please President Trump, who has repeatedly argued for the Federal Reserve to act and help make the Dollar cheaper so that America can compete with the planned interest rate cuts in the Eurozone.

China’s economy is experiencing its slowest growth rate since records officially began 27 years ago, with some experts believing that this might be the Asian powerhouse’s worst performance since the economic fragility of the late 1980s.

The Pound Sterling went below $1.24 yesterday, for the first time since April 2017, as no-deal Brexit fears unsettled international investors once again.

Gold gained $32 per ounce in 12 hours yesterday, with the majority of the rise coming after Powell’s speech to the House Committee on Financial Services. Powell told the committee that the Fed’s own interest-rate team – known as the FOMC – was beginning to favour a cut to protect the American economy.

The Pound Sterling fell by half a cent yesterday to $1.246, as the British Retail Consortium reported the “worst June on record” for the UK – down 1.3% compared to the same point last year.

The Indian government has increased the import duty on gold from 10% to 12.5% this week, in an attempt to address the nation’s deficit.

Gold is the second largest import in value terms, behind fuel, making it an easy target for taxation, and it hit a record-high in Rupees last month, peaking at 99,666 rupees per ounce.

The National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski) has announced that it has increased its gold bullion reserves to 228.6 tonnes.

The bank has been pursuing gold in line with the global trend of increasing reserves to protect against economic uncertainty.

The Pound Sterling has fallen over half a cent this afternoon following two days of poor economic data.

Bank of England chairman Mark Carney admitted to the LGA conference in Bournemouth this afternoon that Q2 2019 experienced "considerably weaker" economic growth than expected, and warned of continued disappointing growth figures in the short term.

Investors in Neil Woodford’s Woodford Equity Income Fund have been told that they will have to wait at least another 28 days before they can withdraw their money from the fund.

Link Asset Services, who are the corporate director of the £3.7 billion Equity Income Fund, say the move is to give Woodford and his team more time to make the necessary changes from illiquid to liquid assets.

With gold reaching a record price of A$2,044 per ounce last month, it’s no surprise that gold mining in Australia is enjoying a fresh wave of interest from investors and consumers alike.

Rising demand for gold - a popular safe-haven investment - has seen mining firms become the subject of mergers, takeover bids, and injections of cash as investors seek to take advantage of the market upswing.