TOCOM gold, platinum futures see limit down on weaker oil price

Singapore (Platts)--4Oct2006

Gold and platinum futures contract prices saw a limit drop on the Tokyo
Commodity Exchange, according to TOCOM Wednesday. Gold futures fell Yen
60($0.51)/g each and platinum Yen 100/g each on the TOCOM.
One Japanese analyst attributed the limit fall to the weaker oil price
during New York trade the previous night. "The oil price broke the
resistance at $60/barrel and it sent almost all futures contracts in New York
down," the analyst added.
Asian traders noted that the weaker oil price had brought the spot gold
price down to around $576/oz and this weakness was carried over into the Asian
morning trade.
"Sellers at TOCOM were desperately selling in view of the weaker spot oil
and gold prices carried over from the New York trade. The heavy selling sent
the TOCOM gold and platinum futures to limit low, forcing TOCOM to halt
trade," the analyst said.
Turnover for gold futures was 13,856 contracts Wednesday down from 73,023
contracts Tuesday, while platinum was totaled 5,551 contracts compared with
44,179 contracts the previous day.
He added that players who couldn't close their positions would have to
wait for Thursday trade. "Most players feel that the market is bearish and
they are moving their funds into the financial market, out from the
commodities," he said.
"It's a long weekend in Japan and many players don't want to keep their
long positions. They will have to [buy] whatever they need by Friday," he
added.
Another trader had earlier said players were trying to take into
consideration the impact of US labor statistics to be released this Friday.
Meanwhile, TOCOM silver futures contracts saw a record fall. "The limit
fall set for silver is Yen 100/g, but the front month October 2006 contract
dropped a record Yen 23.5/g. The April 2007, June 2007 and August 2007
contracts saw limited fall of Yen 18/g," the analyst added. Traded volume was
132 contracts Wednesday compared with 1,042 contracts Tuesday. Both palladium
and aluminium futures contracts did not suffer limit fall.

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