Here is an interesting article I read this morning, if we can push through Thursday's high we could see a nice move upwards. This fundamental data lines up nicely with some of the bullish TA which has been posted here over the last week or so.
"Gold shines as fund holds more than Swiss reservesMarch 13, 2009
Gold edged down on Friday after rising 2% the previous day, but the record holdings of a key gold-backed exchange-traded fund suggested the yellow metal remained on an uptrend.
Gold rallied on Thursday when the Swiss National Bank sold Swiss francs against the euro, raising the spectre of a race to devalue major currencies.
"We are still in an uptrend market and if prices rise to $US930 today, stops could be triggered to push prices towards $US945," said a Singapore-based trader.
"The SNB news was positive for gold as you start to wonder what a real currency is," he said. Gold is widely seen as an alternative currency and a safe-haven asset.
Spot gold traded at $US923.90 an ounce, down 0.3% from New York's notional close on Thursday, when it rose as high as $930.45.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said it held a record 1041.53 tonnes of bullion as of March 12, replacing Switzerland as the world's sixth-largest holder of gold.
SPDR's record stake, up 3.36 tonnes or 0.3% from the previous day, topped the 1040.1 tonnes of gold listed as held by Switzerland in December, the latest data from the World Gold Council showed.
Switzerland ranked as the world's sixth-biggest official gold holder after the United States, Germany, International Monetary Fund, France and Italy.
"The most significant factor for the precious market this year is that long-term, stable funds have been entering the ETF in a systemic way,'' said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
"Driven by worries about currencies, among others, ETF's increases have become symbolic of a market rise, and the market is hoping that the ETF's resumed climb will help pull up prices.''
Investments in SPDR have played a large part in pulling the spot market higher, traders said, with its holdings pausing from repeatedly hitting new highs when spot gold fell back after rising to an 11-month high above $US1000 on February 20.
Data earlier this week showed SPDR holdings dipped for the first time in two months, preceding a fall in spot gold below $US900 an ounce, underscoring a close correlation between the fund's holdings and the market, traders said.
Gold prices have moved up and down on differing cues from stocks and currencies, but bullion's safety appeal remains intact due to the grim outlook for the global economy and more countries possibly selling their own currencies as a way to fight deflation, traders said.
"In relative terms, gold remains the most stable of the assets, and ETFs offer the easiest access to gold investment. From an investor point of view, gold is currently the most attractive product,'' Sonoda said.
Compared with a generally steady rise in gold prices, oil prices have undergone sharper swings in prices, a reflection of the difference in types of investors putting money in the market, some analysts said.
Holdings in the trust, which issues securities backed by physical stocks of gold, began climbing again in December as worries about the global economy prompted demand for bullion as a safe-haven asset."
