– Asia Buying Gold On Dips – “Empires May Fall, Currencies May Change… Gold Will Always Survive” (ZeroHedge, Feb. 13, 2012):
“The Chinese guys are still buying. Whenever there is a dip in prices, they will buy. There’s no change in their attitude,” said a physical dealer in Hong Kong, who trades gold bars. “They are still buying today, because I think the downside is limited for the time being. Sentiment has improved a little bit.’’
Market focus tends to be almost solely on Chinese and Indian demand but demand is broad based throughout increasingly important Asian gold markets. Demand for gold remains robust in most Asian countries where consumers are buying gold as a store of wealth due to concerns about their local paper currency.
This phenomenon is happening throughout Asia including in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and other large Asian countries (see news below regarding demand for gold by investors in Thailand).
AFP have a very interesting article on Vietnamese ‘gold fever’ which recounts how “stashing gold at home rather than having cash in the bank is a generations-old habit in communist Vietnam”.
And old habits are dying hard even if an ounce of gold bullion can now cost up to US $100 more in Hanoi than anywhere else in the world due to government meddling in the gold market.
AFP quote 60-year-old retiree Truong Van Hue “I still like to keep my savings in gold. It’s safe for retired people like me. I can sell the gold any time, anywhere, when I need cash,” he told AFP.
Vietnam’s love of the yellow metal is centuries-old, rooted in a history of strife, warfare and want. “Empires may fall, currencies may change… gold will always survive,” said sociologist Vu Duc Vuong.
VERSUS
– Warren Buffett: gold has no value (Telegraph, Feb. 10, 2012):
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has dismissed gold as a valueless asset saying that it has no inherent value. In an article for Fortune magazine, Buffett said that gold investors were pinning their hopes on future demand.
He warned that gold was a self-inflating bubble, created by investors desperate for a viable alternative to property and shares.
The infamous investor warned that investors in gold would be left with egg on their face when the price eventually crashed.
(See also: – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Loses More Than $2 Billion On Derivative Bets)
Related info:
– Washington State Introduces HB 2731 To Declare Gold And Silver Legal Tender Within The State
– ‘Gold Rush’: China Bought Around 500 Tons Of Gold In 2011 To Diversifiy Its Assets (RT – Video)
– China: ‘Gold Rush’ – Year of Dragon First Week Sees Record Sales, Up 49.7%
– Chinese Central Banker: ‘Gold Is The Only Safe Haven Left’
– Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass: ‘Comex Is A Fractional Reserve Exchange’ – Comex Can’t Deliver