gold plus ,

Interesting program on sbs re gold last night although I didn't understand how or why 5 ?dealers/ countries were trying to agree on a spot price , can anyone explain what it was about ?
ge

DJ NY Precious Metals Review: Small Declines On Profit-Taking

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES



Profit-taking knocked gold and silver futures lower in New York Friday.
However, traders and analysts suggested the pullback was used as a buying
opportunity in a bullish market, enabling the metals to trim their initial
losses.

December gold fell 80 cents to $474.80 an ounce, while December silver
slipped 2 cents to $7.82 an ounce.

Gold had traded as low as $471.20 and silver as low as $7.72, before both
recouped most of their losses into the close.

"We had end-of-the-month profit-taking in both metals," said a Comex floor
trader. "The last day of the month is Monday, so ahead of the weekend, people
were taking some profits. They got out of their longs.

"Toward the end of the day, we saw the true market direction come back. We
saw new money coming back in when there was a dip (at which) to buy the
market."

This buying largely came from speculators anticipating more gains in these
metals, he said.

"It's just a great bull market," said Peter Grandich, publisher of the
Grandich Letter. "It pulls back a little and then finishes strong.

"Once again, the bears tried to knock gold. But its internal strength, which
has been supported by physical and investment demand, just outweighs the bear
pressure. The market corrects itself and the least resistance is up."

There are factors driving the investment demand beyond market participants
simply betting the uptrend will continue, he said.

"There's an ever-increasing geopolitical concern in the price of gold, not
only abroad, but in the U.S. with all of the potential problems that the
current administration is having."

Meanwhile, Grandich said, jewelry demand "continues to surprise everybody
with its strength." He pointed out, however, that the strong demand from India
is for not only jewelry but also as an investment.

A couple of traders commented that the stronger tone in the U.S. dollar
brought some selling into the gold and silver. However, one noted, the metals
have not been following the euro as close as usual in recent months, and the
metals recovered most of their Friday losses even though the euro remained
around its weakest levels of the day.

As gold was closing, the euro had fallen to $1.2053 from $1.2141 late
Thursday.

One trader suggested some technical buying could occur in December gold if
the market gets through the area around $477.80 (Thursday's high) to $480 (the
Oct. 17 high). Above this, he listed the Oct. 12 high of $483.10.

Another trader commented that buy stops lie in December silver around $7.955,
the high back on Oct. 11.

Meanwhile, the Platinum Group Metals were slightly mixed. January platinum
lost $2.10 to $941.80, while December palladium added $1.35 to $230.30.

Traders reported more speculative buying in these metals but also
profit-taking by longs. However, activity was muted ahead of the weekend.

"It's a Friday," said one. "People were taking a break. There were no
features."

Grandich commented that speculative investment demand has been underpinning
these metals lately. This has been most notable in palladium, after this market
had been "depressed" for an extended period of time before a run-up this month,
he said.


Settlements (open-outcry trading only):
London PM Gold Fix: $470.75 Versus $474.40 Thursday
U.S. spot gold at 1:42 p.m. ET: $473, down 55 cents from
previous day; Range: $469.60-474.80
December gold (RGCZ05) $474.80, down 80 cents; Range
$471.20-$475.40
December silver (RSIZ05) $7.82, down 2 cents; Range $7.72-
$7.86
January platinum (RPLF06) $941.80, down $2.10; Range $941-
949
December palladium (RPAZ05) $230.30, up $1.35; Range
$225.50-$231.50


-By Allen Sykora, Dow Jones Newswires; 541-318-8765;
[email protected]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-28-05 1413ET

Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.