Precious Metals Fundamentals: February 7, 2012

With the start of another session gold is biased to the upside today, attempting to recover the losses incurred yesterday, where the metal retreated sharply after fluctuating heavily yesterday, affected by the volatile low yielding U.S. dollar; however, today the metal rebounded slightly as investors hold more gold as a hedge against uncertainty ahead of the results of the Greek debt-talks with creditors.

Gold started the session today at $1720.35 per ounce, and gained $7.10 an ounce or 0.41% so far to currently trade around $1727.45 per ounce. The metal reached the highest at $1729.98 and the lowest at $1718.93 per ounce.

Greece returned to be the main focus in the market again, where all eyes are still tracking any developments in the Greek debt talks with the private sector over the coupon rate paid on the new bonds to be issued instead of the current Greek debt held by the private sector, where now Greece is pressured by the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank, as the nation must reach an agreement very soon in order to obtain the second bailout package worth 130 billion, noting that Greece must return 14.5 billion euros of bonds maturing on March 20.

The metal also gained strength today after the U.S. dollar started to lose momentum, where the U.S. dollar reversed against the majors, reflecting upside pressures on the metals, commodities and other high yielding currencies.

Moreover, eyes will also track the Greek bond sale today in the middle of the negotiations with the private sector, which could have an effect on the market, where we can see markets are very volatile now and instable.

Among other precious metals, silver also advanced 0.11% or $0.04 per ounce after the opening of $33.66 per ounce to currently trade around $33.70 per ounce. The metal set the highest at $33.82 and the lowest at $33.56 per ounce.

Platinum advanced $0.25 per ounce or 0.02% to $1626.75 per ounce after the opening of $1626.50 per ounce. The metal reached a high of $1630.75 and a low of $1620.25 per ounce.

Palladium set the highest at $707.00 per ounce and the lowest at $703.75 after the opening of $706.00 per ounce; however, the metal trades now around $705.50 per ounce, after cutting 0.07% of $0.25 an ounce.