Gold vs. Platinum

Au” and “Pt” may be dull chemical elements, but gold and platinum have certainly played their respective parts during the unfolding of the financial crisis. Revisiting the metals’ movements, it is clear from the table below that gold’s decline was much smaller than that of platinum - as platinum suffered from the deterioration in the auto industry - but the recovery of gold has also been lesser than that of platinum.

The red line shows the platinum price, having peaked in March 2008 at $2,251 and topped out relative to gold in May at a premium of 140%. Technical analysis-orientated readers will also notice the blue MACD histograms moving into positive territory, indicating a buy signal for platinum in relative terms.
Although gold may experience a further pull-back in the short term , the longer-term outlook seems fairly positive as a result of a solid supply/demand situation, a likely waning appetite for U.S. dollars and store-of-value considerations. According to the Telegraph, Merrill Lynch predicted that gold would soon break through its all time-high of $1,030 an ounce, and would hit $1,150 by June. Paul Walker, CEO of GFMS, said gold could rise to $1,100 by the end of 2009 as a result of the monetization of government debt. However, based on the relative chart above, platinum should have more upside potential than the yellow metal over the next few months.

Foreign exchange inflows to Pakistan highest in history

FY ‘07-08 has been closed out and we now know how well the country fared in attracting foreign inflows. In short, the numbers look very good. The Business Recorder reports that Pakistan attracted $6.45BN in foreign remittances. This represents growth of almost 18% over FY 2006-07. Not too shabby! In terms of the countries from where these remittances were sent, the US tops the list with about $1.76BN, next come Saudi Arabia and the UAE at $1.25BN and $1.1BN respectively. Fourth on the list are the GCC countries . This distribution makes it apparent how integral inflows from the middle east are in the overall equation.

Jewellery

While industry and bullion coinage were major consumers of platinum in the 19th century, platinum jewellery remained rare until high-temperature jewellers' torches were developed later. Once this development was made, jewellery makers were quick to take advantage of platinum. Before the first decade of this century, the whiteness of diamonds had long been highlighted by setting them in silver. However, silver's relative softness meant that these settings had to be relatively heavy -- taking away some of the brilliance of the stone. Thus, as jewellers became more adept at using "the other white metal," platinum quickly took over the role of the diamond setting of choice.

Platinum Coins

In November of 1983, platinum investing entered a new era when, for the first time, a nation began to issue platinum legal tender coins that derived its value almost entirely from the platinum it contained: The Isle of Man, a British Crown Possession, issued a one ounce Noble. Legal tender bullion coins are viewed by many as the most secure way to own platinum. Most importantly, they are not subject to assay because their weight and purity are backed by the issuing nation. They are also portable, liquid and often quite beautiful.

The Isle of Man's highly successful Noble enticed other mints to issue their own platinum coins. During the second half of 1988, Australia (the Koala) and Canada (the Maple Leaf) introduced platinum legal tender bullion coins within three months of each other. Despite the proximity of the launches, both introductions were enormously successful, bringing the level of investment demand to new highs.

For nearly ten years, Australia's Koala and Canada's Maple Leaf were among the leading platinum coins in annual sales. In addition to these programs, the 1990s witnessed the release of dozens of limited edition platinum proof coins to satisfy numismatic demand. These products derive their value from both the price of the platinum they contain and from collector demand for the individual issues. China, for example, issued a coin in a number of different weights called the Panda. While the Panda is popular with collectors, its beautiful design has also made it the centre of many jewellery pieces. Another recent introduction was Russia's Ballerina proof coin. In fact, during the past decade, Russia (and the former USSR) released at least 18 different platinum legal tender coin designs. The Isle of Man has also been active in the platinum numismatic market. Besides its bullion coin, The Isle of Man has minted roughly three dozen unique platinum coin designs since 1979.

Platinum Bullion

In 1975, after the Arab Oil Embargo and collapse of the Bretton-Woods agreement sparked increases in precious metals prices, Tanaka Kikinzouku Kogyo KK, the leading bullion house in Japan, introduced platinum bars that were small enough for the individual investor to buy. With platinum close to $180 per ounce, Tanaka's five gram and ten gram bars could be bought by investors for well under $100. That platinum bullion investments were first introduced in Japan made perfect sense because platinum jewellery was already highly popular there.

With platinum's huge price changes during the late 1970's and early 1980's interest in platinum bullion investing spread to Europe and the United States. Two platinum fabricators began to produce one and ten ounce platinum bars. Soon thereafter, the variety of platinum bullion bars rose as JM, Engelhard and Tanaka expanded their lines and firms like Degussa jumped into the market.

Platinum Futures

In 1956, the New York Mercantile Exchange introduced platinum futures as a way to diversify from its exclusively agricultural offerings. While futures offered a standard and liquid outlet, the highly leveraged nature of futures trading meant that individual investors faced a high risk of losing a large share of their investment due to small changes in the price of the underlying commodity. As a consequence, most platinum futures contracts are today held by industrial hedgers or major speculators.

MARKET CLOSE: Shares fall with global dip

Shares fell as a ripple of concern about earnings pushed down equities in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Nuplex Industries slipped as shareholders prepared to cough up for their rights.The NZX 50 Index fell 43.56, or 1.7%, to 2568.9, its second daily decline. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 10 rose and 13 were unchanged. Turnover was $115.7 million, one of the highest this year.
Telecom, the biggest company on the NZX 50, fell 4.8% to $2.37. This year it has gained 8.7%. Contact Energy, the next biggest stock, declined 4.2% to $5.70.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.2% yesterday. In Asia today, the Hang Seng Index has dropped 4.2% to 14324.75 and the Nikkei 225 Index is down 2.7% to 8595.01.
Alcoa, the first company on the Dow to report for the first quarter, posted a net loss of US$497 million, blaming weak prices. The aluminium producer supplies industries ranging from autos to appliances.

"There's pressure on earnings which we expect to continue in the next couple of quarters," said Guy Elliffe, head of equities at AMP Capital Investors in Wellington. "But the market is pretty aware of it and valuations are pretty compelling."

Gainers today included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, up 6% to $2.99, Kiwi Income Property Trust, which rose 2.3% to 91 cents and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings, up 2% to $2.40.
Nuplex fell 3.2% to 30 cents and sank as low as a record 27 cents during trading today. Shareholders must take up their 7-for-one entitlement at 23 cents a share or see their holding diluted by a crushing 87.5%. Since trading at $2.30 on October 3, the company has shed $165 million of market value. The company has urged investors to take or sell their rights before their due dates this month.

"Shareholders have got the letters with the rights entitlements," AMP Capital's Elliffe said. They're "realizing how much they have to stump up."

Nuplex published a letter exchange with the Shareholders Association in which it defended terms of top-up arrangements in its placement as part of its placement.

History of Gold Trading

Gold trading has a long history. Discovered in ancient times, gold has been a sign of wealth and social position in many societies since it was first used as currency. Today gold is still an important material of trade and business. Countries value gold as a measure of wealth and a base of exchange. Individuals value gold as insurance because paper money is not always certain. Gold continues to have effects on world financial markets today and will into the future.

The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. Under the gold standard, currency issuers guarantee to redeem notes, upon demand, in that amount of gold. Governments that employ such a fixed unit of account, and which will redeem their notes to other governments in gold, share a fixed-currency relationship. Supporters of the gold standard claim it is more resistant to credit and debt expansion. Unlike a fiat currency, the money backed by gold cannot be created arbitrarily by government action.

This restraint prevents artificial inflation by the devaluation of currency. This is supposed to remove “currency uncertainty,” keep the credit of the issuing monetary authority sound, and encourage lending. Nevertheless, countries under a not truly 100% gold standard, like countries simultaneously using manipulated paper currencies, underwent debt crises and depressions throughout the history of its use with the central bank manipulation and inflation of the currency. The U.S. experienced this in its Panic of 1819 after its Second National Bank was chartered in 1816. The gold standard is no longer used in any nation, having been replaced completely by fiat currency. It still is in use by private institutions in the supply of digital gold currency, which uses accounted gold grams as money”

Karachi Stock Exchange activities remain dull!

Karachi: The trading activity at the Karachi Stock exchange lacked luster on the forth straight day. With the trading volume remaining marginally over 4.5 million shares the KSE-100 index remained stagnant at 9,183 points on the forth day of the trading at the Karachi stock exchange.
The investors preferred to stay at sideline at the floor freeze remained in place.
The adviser to the PM on finance Mr. Shaukat Tareen is due to arrive at the Karachi Stock Exchange on Friday on invitation of the Karachi Stock Exchange board of directors. The investors and traders at the stock exchange expect some important measures to be announced and a decision on the date of removal of the floor freeze is also excepted.
Shaukat Tareen had previously spoken against the decision of floor freeze. The advisor to the Prime Minister on finance, has favored restriction free trading at the stock exchanges of the country. Mr. Tareen had previously announced creation of Rs.20 billion market stabilization fund which is to be funded by National Bank of Pakistan, National Investment Trust, State Life and EOBI in equal proportion.
Additionally a cushion fund of Rs.30 billion was also announced by Mr. Shaukat Tareen to encourage foreign investors who were ready to take away with investment worth $450 million and are waiting for the moment the floor freeze is removed.

Futures Market Frozen, US Markets Frozen

NEW YORK — Wall Street joined stock markets around the world in a huge selloff Friday, sending major market indexes to their lowest levels in more than five years on the belief that a punishing economic recession is at hand. A grim outlook from electronics maker Sony helped trigger the selling, and another bleak forecast from the automaker Daimler added momentum to the drop.
U.S. trading was dramatic and fractious, with the Dow Jones industrials falling more than 500 points soon after the opening bell. The blue chips followed the pattern of recent sessions, recovering ground only to fall sharply again, before ending the day with a loss of 312. All the major indexes fell more than 3 percent.
The pullback on Wall Street, while steep, wasn't as bad as some observers had feared after stocks plunged overseas in response to another round of grim corporate news. Sony's profit warning sent its shares tumbling in Japan and offered only the latest example that companies are girding for a slowing economy and a pullback among consumers worried about falling home prices and losses on their investments.

World Stock History

The World Stock Exchange (WSE) upgrade continues to make progress. Inactive accounts prior to August 2008 have now been removed from the system. All former listings for virtual businesses have been removed and consolidated into the WSE Traders Fund which owns a majority share of the World Stock Exchange within the role playing game.

We are pleased to announce that the World Stock Exchange application has now been admitted into the Facebook Application Directory, thereby allowing all Facebook users immediate access to add the application and join the World Stock Exchange.

In just over 5 years Facebook has become the world's leading Internet based social utility empowering over 150 million people around the world with the ability to communicate more efficiently with their friends, family, coworkers and associates. More than 50% of Facebook users are outside of college and the fastest growing demographic of Facebook users is those 30 years old and above.

The site has been translated in more than 35 languages with many more in development making Facebook a truly multilingual and global platform. More than 70% of Facebook users live outside the United States.

The above growth and achievements by Facebook highlight the importance and positive impacts that it will have in our world becoming a more open and integrated society.
If ever there was a single global platform providing immediate access to the global market and with it an opportunity for our society to create a global securities exchange and banking platform comprised mostly of the general public then Facebook is that platform. I intend to see the World Stock Exchange evolve over time from a role playing game into a fully operational and registered global securities exchange aimed at bringing the corporation and the investor closer together for a more rewarding and mutually beneficial relationship towards the common good.

CHINA STOCK MARKET IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Executive Summary

China’s stock market has experienced amazing growth since establishing its twoexchanges in 1990, although the growth has been uneven and irregular, and themarket remains in the early stages of its development. This report seeks to identifythe key characteristics of China’s market and how they combine to form the mostdynamic and intriguing developing market in the world.The current structure of China’s market is one of its key obstacles to further development.There are very few stocks that would fit the definition of “blue-chip” tradingon China’s mainland exchanges. Whereas most developed markets are dominatedby a limited number of large-cap stocks, China’s market is cramped by amultitude of small-cap stocks. This feature allows for increased speculation andhigher turnover for both investors and indexes, among other problems.A related matter is the reliance of China’s market on external expansion, that is,expansion through the issuance of new shares rather than the appreciation invalue of existing stocks. Since these shares generally do not experience sustainedgrowth, often because of market manipulation, they contribute to the dominanceof smaller size stocks in China’s market.

Ultimately, the current structure is amajor obstacle to the creation of viable index-related products in China.Another issue is the fact that, despite the tremendous growth of the stock market,China’s companies are not operating at a high level of profitability. They areplagued by poor earnings and low dividend yields. China’s companies need toincrease their profitability if they are to compete in global markets.Finally, government seems to have too much influence on the market. It keeps a tightcontrol on the issuance of IPOs, and, as a result of widespread government holdings,many listed companies in China have very low free-float ratios.

Meanwhile,due at least in part to the unusual market structure, market manipulation andspeculation are common. The solution is simply a matter of strengthening controlsin certain areas while relaxing them in others in order to foster an environment inwhich China’s stock market can continue to thrive.

Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)

Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) is the biggest and most liquid exchange in Pakistan with the average daily turnover of 525.15 million shares and market capitalization of US $ 54.28 billion. The international magazine 'Business Week' announced the KSE as the best performing world stock market in 2002. Since then the KSE continuously maintains the reputation as one of the best performing markets in the world.
Since 1991, foreign investors have an equal opportunity together with local investors to operate in the secondary capital market on the Karachi Stock Exchange. The establishment of the new policy for foreign investors and initiated privatization in Pakistan has accelerated the development of the KSE, which had even 663 companies listed in 2006. In addition, companies have a choice to be listed on one of the two markets - the ready market and the over-the-counter (OTC) market, which has lesser listing requirements. While the ready market requires listing companies to have minimum paid up capital of Rs 200 million (about UK ? 1.8 m), the companies with minimum of Rs 100 million can be listed on the OTC market.
The Karachi Stock Exchange trades the KSE-100 Index. It is a highly-diversified index of 100 largest capitalization companies' stocks from all sectors of Pakistan economy. A constantly revised index is a good indicator of the overall Exchange performance over a period of time. In 2005, 88% of the KSE total market capitalization was represented by the KSE-100 Index.
The membership in the Karachi Stock Exchange is limited. Only 200 individual and corporate entities can register as members in the KSE. In 2005, 162 members traded actively on the Exchange. In addition, foreign corporate entities may also become the members of the KSE with the condition that the nominee member of the company is a citizen of Pakistan.

NASDAQ

While the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) represent the history of stock markets in the United States, the NASDAQ, which stands for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations," represents the future, or, perhaps, the present, depending on one's point of view.
Unlike the NYSE or AMEX, which trace their histories back to the 19th centuries and before when stocks were traded on a New York street corner, NASDAQ does not have, and never has had, a real trading floor. It is a "virtual" stock market, meaning all trades are done electronically. While its main exchange is in the United States, it also has exchange branches in Canada and Japan and associations with exchanges in Hong Kong and Europe, making it a global stock market.
Dawn of the Information Age
Saying that NASDAQ is an electronic, computer-driven stock market seems perfectly normal these days, but, when it was founded in 1971, it was an incredibly advanced concept. Run by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), it was founded in a day when there was no internet and computers were huge machines that filled entire floors of office buildings but had less computing power than a state-of-the-art laptop does these days.
It also is a market of rapid advances. Even the name is in flux. Traditionally (if one can speak of "tradition" for a market less than 50 years old) the name always has been written in capital letters as an acronym, but the more accepted version now is to refer to "Nasdaq" (without capital letters) as a proper noun. Anyone doing research into the market will find multiple references to both versions.
While NASDAQ is not the only electronic stock market (it has at least two other main rivals) it is by far the largest. In fact, in 1999, it passed the NYSE in volume to become the largest stock market in the world.
OTC
NASDAQ operates by buying and selling what are called over-the-counter (OTC) stocks. Those are stocks bought and sold outside of the organized stock markets. Over-the-counter trading is the single largest securities market in the United States today, including almost all government securities and municipal and corporate bonds.
NASDAQ provides price quotations on approximately 5,000 of the more actively traded OTC stocks. The exchange includes all types of companies, but is traditionally home to many high-tech stocks. The big ones include Microsoft, Intel, Dell, and Cisco.

New York Stock Exchange

For many people the name New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) means "the" stock market. For all intents and purposes, that can be viewed as an accurate statement. The NYSE is the first and oldest stock exchange in the United States, tracing its beginnings back to 1792.
In those days, stock and security traders met on the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street in New York, first to buy and sell government debt securities and later expanding into other stocks and bonds. At the time, New York served as the nation's capital and Congress met in Federal Hall, also on Wall Street.
Buttonwood Agreement
The process became somewhat more organized in 1792 when 24 New York City stockbrokers and merchants signed the Buttonwood Agreement, establishing the New York Stock & Securities Board, the entity now known as the NYSE. A seat on the exchange originally cost $25. With the agreement, trading moved off the street into a rented room in a building at 40 Wall Street. Today the building that stands on the spot is a 71-story skyscraper known as the Trump Building.
Although the exchange was founded in 1792, the date usually given for the beginning of the organization is 1817, the year the exchange adopted its first constitution. The exchange operated in that way until 1971 when it became a not-for-profit corporation. During its history, the cost of a membership to be included in exchange trading has risen from a low of $2,750 in 1871 to a record high of $2.65 million in 1999.
Volume Dealers
Much has changed on the exchange over the past 200 years. It was only in the 20th century that rapid advances and declines hit the market and the most massive swings in volume have come on the dawn of the 21st century. The exchange hit the 1 million mark in shares traded in one day in 1886. Daily volume first hit 2 billion shares in 2001 and the record high of 2.8 billion shares was traded on July 24, 2002. The record low for shares traded in one day was 31 in 1830.
It was not until 1906 that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly referred to as the "Dow," hit the 100 mark. The Dow topped 500 in 1956 and that doubled in 1971. During administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, in an age of high inflation and a lagging economy, the Dow first hit the 1,000 mark and the nightly news carried reports if the mark dropped under that benchmark. On an average day today, 1.46 billion shares, valued at $46.1 billion, are traded on the NYSE.
Explosion
That might seem like ancient history to those working "the street" (as Wall Street is called) in an era when the Dow topped 10,000 in 1999. Those were heady days as the market rose and analysts predicted "10K by 2K," meaning they expected the Dow to reach 10,000 by the year 2000. The market beat the prediction by a year.
The last year of the 20th century saw the most volatility on the market as 2000 marked the largest one-day jump in the Dow (499.19 points on March 16) and its biggest one-day drop (617.78 points on April 2000). That year began with the Dow hitting a record high of 11,722.98 on January 14. With the bust of the so-called "internet bubble" and the fall of high technology stocks to more reasonable levels, the market has seen less dramatic ups and downs in the days since.

Dollar sinks to multimonth lows vs euro, pound

The dollar continued its plunge to multimonth lows against the euro and the pound Monday as better-than-expected readings on manufacturing, consumer spending and construction spending drove investors to riskier assets.
The economic data suggested the economy's decline is moderating, but did not yet show a rebound. Personal spending was down slightly in April, personal incomes were flat and U.S. manufacturing activity contracted for the 16th straight month in May, although at a slower pace.
Hope of an economic recovery has pushed the dollar down as investors trade it in for foreign equities and bonds. Further, continued worries over U.S. deficits and debt loads added to investors' wariness on the greenback.
"There's an ongoing belief that the economy is past its worst point and is set to improve," said David Gilmore of Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Conn. "Risk is back in fashion, and we're seeing money moving from the safety of government paper like the dollar and Treasury bills into things like equities, commodities, emerging markets, real estate - everything that got the snot knocked out of it last year is now being purchased with a vengeance."
The 16-nation euro jumped to $1.4171 from $1.4132 late Friday, earlier trading at a five-month high of $1.4246. Meanwhile, the British pound surged to $1.6446 from $1.6140 and reached $1.6497 earlier in the session, its highest point since November.
Also Monday, General Motors Corp.'s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the fourth-largest in U.S. history. The filing was not shocking, but served as a reminder of the government's heavy involvement in corporate America following last year's market crash and economic tumble.

Technical analysis stocks

While fundamental analysis may tell you when you’ve found a solid company, its weakness is getting you into that stock on a timely basis as far as when to enter and exit the stock. This is where technical analysis comes in. Its great asset is that it’s a better timing tool. So the fundamentals tell you “what” to buy and technical analysis tells you “when” it might be a higher probable time to buy and sell that stock. As you can see from this, they both can be complimentary to one another. After all, if you can trade a stock with horrible earnings or a stock with favorable earnings projections, of course you should trade the one that’s more fundamentally sound. Someone who strictly uses fundamental analysis may need to hold on to that stock for 3-10 years for the true valuations to be reflected in the stock. These tend to be long term investors. The trader, on the other hand, tends to lean more heavily on technical analysis because the trader has to be right within hours to weeks, not 3 to 10 years. To the technician, timing is of the essence.

Gold Trading Update

The price of Gold has been very volatile since the start of the current financial crisis that the world is experiencing. So far today, the commodity has dropped by $7 or 0.75% to $919 an ounce. This comes about as signs of global economic recovery led by the U.S. lead the news wires. At 12:30 GMT, the U.S. released some very impressive economic data. Firstly, Durable Goods Orders increased by 3.4%, far better than the forecasted -2.3%. This is the biggest gain in over a year. Secondly, Core Durable Goods Orders increased by 3.9%, far better than forecasted too.
These positive figures do indicate that there is a fair possibility that we are at a crossroads. With demand for Crude Oil increasing, positive housing figures from the U.S. last week, and these figures today, the economic crisis in the U.S. seems to have bottomed out. On the one hand Gold prices have dived nearly $40 in the past week, as demand for safe-haven assets ahs declined. On the other hand, Gold prices have likely reached near their minimum for the next 6 months as consumer demand for Gold has increased over 20%. Additionally, the bailout plan in the U.S. is likely to put upward pressure on the price of Gold, as inflation kicks

EURO / USD Forex Trading Tips and Analysis for Day Traders

The EUR/USD has started higher once again after bouncing off of the1.4100 level. Resistance is currently at 1.4160. A break above this level would signal a move to 1.4220-1.4240. Beyond this there is little resistance till 1.4350.
With the daily average range sitting just below 150 pips the pair is not likely to move beyond 1.4300 unless there is a significant surprise in economic news due out of the US today.
A sustained move below 1.4100 will likely trigger stops down to the1.4070 level and would target 1.4040 if rates continue lower. Beyond this 1.4400 should slow further falls.
The trend is up and a rise is more likely than a decline

USD / JPY Technical Forex Analysis for Forex Traders

The pair has been moving sideways after a strong run yesterday. This has formed a flag pattern which indicates a continuation of the rise. Yet a breakout can be traded in both directions.
A break above 96.60 would provide early signals of continuation in yesterdays rise. Confirmation would come from a break above 96.80 with profit targets at 97.00 and resistance is expected at 97.20.
A push below 96.20-96.10 points to at least a partial retracement of yesterdays surge. The initial target is 95.70 with 95.40 expected to hold beyond that.