Greece bankruptcy leaves gold market clod

The threat of national bankruptcy in Greece still appears to be leaving the gold market largely cold. Gold is trading at $1,185 and €1,050 per troy ounce this morning. Although there is considerable uncertainty with respect to Greece and risk aversion was clearly predominant on the financial markets yesterday - share prices coming under what in some cases was significant pressure - ETF investors have further reduced their holdings: the gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg recorded outflows of 2.8 tons. 

As time is running out for Greece, gold should be in greater demand as a safe haven in the coming weeks, which should ultimately also lend support to its price. Platinum in particular found itself under serious pressure yesterday, dipping for a time to $1,077 per troy ounce to hit its lowest price since April 2009. This precious metal, which is primarily used in the automotive industry, was more than $100 per troy ounce cheaper than gold for a while. The last time this happened was in January 2013. 

Commerzbank expects, the platinum price slide is due first and foremost to the weak gold price, which is dragging platinum down with it, the weak South African rand, which is increasing supply from the leading producer country, and selling on the part of speculative financial investors.