Asian Stocks Outside Japan Drop as Energy, Gold Producers Fall

PT. Equityworld Futures - Asian stocks outside Japan dropped, with energy producers, miners and information technology shares leading declines.
Santos Ltd., Australia’s third-largest energy company, fell 1.6 percent in Sydney after Brent futures extended losses. Newcrest Mining Ltd., the nation’s biggest gold producer, sank 10 percent after the precious metal tumbled to the lowest level since 2010. Innolux Corp. slid 6.3 percent in Taipei after Citigroup Inc. downgraded its rating on the supplier of screens to Apple Inc. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. dropped 6.6 percent in Seoul, extending its record weekly drop.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Excluding Japan Index slipped 0.3 percent to 463.22 as of 4:03 p.m. in Hong Kong. The measure last week posted its biggest weekly advance since April as Chinese shares rallied amid speculation banks will support the market.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel held out the prospect of limited debt relief as crisis-ravaged Greece prepares to reopen its banks three weeks after they were shut. Monday is the day the country must reimburse the European Central Bank 4.2 billion euros ($4.5 billion), including interest, as bonds bought during its last debt crisis mature.
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CHINESE Gold Reserves

PT. Equityworld Futures - China shocked the bullion market by declaring today its official gold holdings for the first time in 6 years - the surprise was less that they had done so, and more at the incredibly small figure which is less than half the market consensus. China last reported a figure of 1054 tonnes in April 2009 which has risen to only 1658 tonnes today - we don't believe the figure, but we struggle to understand the motivation for down-playing it.
With only 1658 tonnes of gold reserves this would put China in 5th position behind the US (8133 tonnes), Germany (3383 tonnes), Italy (2451 tonnes) and France (2435 tonnes). As a country with the world's largest economy by some measures, one would have expected they would be well north of the German figure really. So what is at play here ...
China is seeking a place at top table in financial markets by having its currency accepted under IMF rules (the so-called Special Drawing Rights) at a meeting to be held in October - in other words, to have the Yuan included by Central banks around the world as a reserve currency. As part of this process, China would need to fully declare its gold reserves ; in that sense the timing is as expected - its just the amount that makes no sense.
Secondly, China is struggling with an equity market in freefall and some have suggested that the timing of the declaration is to give comfort to domestic investors that their reserves are size-able ... but that makes no sense either, because they aren't !
The third explanation - and here we move into the under-world of conspiracies, is that China wants to downplay gold as part of its reserves - especially as they are world's top buyers both for domestic jewellery and to top up their official reserves (yes they are also the top producers but they are significant net buyers). This is to say that China may be adopting the reverse of the UK policy of the late 1990's where it telegraphed in advance to the world its intentions to sell most of its gold reserves - thereby prompting a fall in prices to a 21 year low ... thank you Gordon Brown.
I would suspect a decision has already been made by the IMF in principal about the Yuan joining the US dollar as a reserve currency (although I have no proof of that), effectively seeking to fill a void in reserves as Central Banks dessert the Euro ... and it does therefore need to overstate its gold holdings.
There is an apocryphal story about the Chinese Premier on a state visit to Paris who was asked what he thought about the French Revolution ... "Too early to say" was his reply ... which caused a guffaw amongst observers who were aware of China having an uber-long term view on things (actually he misunderstood the question !) ... perhaps they are p[laying the long game both with regards to the economy and with regards to declaring its hand fully and openly on gold.
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Gold Plunges 4.2% to Lowest Since March ’10 as Platinum Slides

PT. Equityworld Futures - Gold sank 4.2 percent to the lowest level in more than five years, dropping for a sixth day, on prospects for higher U.S. interest rates and after China said it held less metal in reserves than some analysts expected. Platinum extended its decline to the lowest since 2009.

Bullion for immediate delivery fell as low as $1,086.18 an ounce, the lowest price since March 2010, and traded at $1,099.09 at 9:42 a.m. in Singapore. Prices sank 2.5 percent last week, the most since March.

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Gold Stalls as Investors Shift Focus to Timing of U.S. Rate Bump

PT. Equityworld Futures - Gold traders were hesitant to act before testimony this week from Janet Yellen that may provide more details on the timing of increases for U.S. interest rates.
The metal settled little changed in New York, while silver and platinum dropped. Federal Reserve Chair Yellen, who last week maintained her call for a rate boost this year, will deliver her congressional testimony starting Wednesday.
Gold futures for August delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,153.50 an ounce at 1:49 p.m. on the Comex in New York, dropping for the fourth straight session.
Investors increased global holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold for the first time in four sessions, data compiled by Bloomberg show. On Monday, assets rose 1.7 metric tons to 1,586.9 tons, which is still close to the lowest since 2009.
Silver futures for September delivery dropped 0.9 percent to $15.315 an ounce on the Comex.
Platinum futures for October delivery declined 0.7 percent to $1,028.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Palladium futures for September delivery fell 0.3 percent to $657.10 an ounce.
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