In what could well be very important news for gold, the Istanbul Gold Exchange reported that Turkish gold imports for May were 19.47 tonnes, 150% above May’s and the heaviest since September 2008 (May 2011’s imports were only 0.029 tonnes). 2012 imports so far at 79.7 tonnes are 87.6% above last year. See

· Buying of a wholesale nature by Turkish Banks which are increasingly allowed to use gold for reserve requirements

· Wholesale shipments to Iran.

Both have bullish implications.

Shanghai gold closed at a premium of $6.14 to world gold of $1,557.58 on volume equivalent to 7,758 NY lots (Thursday $6.64/$1,563.26/7,359 NY). The yuan was unchanged at a 7.18% post $US "depegging" appreciation.

UBS has been deploring the quiet nature of the Shanghai gold market lately and suggesting that the Chinese public - in contrast to the Indians - are momentum buyers. There was evidence of this last summer. Today’s NY action opens this interesting possibility again.

On volume equivalent to 7,832 NY lots TOCOM added 0.868 tonnes to open interest (279 NY) but the public shaved 0.122 tonnes (0.24%) from their net long, driven by a 0.6 tonne increase in their short. The active contract closed down 34 yen and world gold lost $2.80 during the session to go out $4.70 below the NY 4PM level.

Today gold was ominously soft all day into an ugly pre-floor slump which saw a day’s low in August gold down $18.70 at $1,545.50 at 8AM. CME website volume as of 8 was some 46,000 lots.

The Payroll news has of course set of tremendous rally, notably in FX gold too. Estimated volume at 10AM was 180,880 lots and a 300,000+ day looks distinctly possible.

Contrary to JBGJ’s apprehension, the U.K. 4 day weekend upcoming, with consequently reduced gold liquidity, has turned out to be a threat rather than opportunity for the Bears. The buoyant PM fix – at $1606 $53.50 or 3.45% higher than AM – and the fact that the gold shares are significantly stronger than bullion suggests a corner has been turned.

***

Sunday, June 03, 2012

The CME Final for Thursday reported that on volume of 192,908 lots, 9.56% above estimate, open interest dropped 3,336 lots, 10.38 tonnes or 0.79%, to 416,909 lots. Gold was down 0.1% at the floor close and 0.2% at the stock market close. The most active phases of the day were on downswings, which apparently involved long liquidation (ill-judged, in view of Friday).

On Friday gold’s situation was utterly transformed by the 8-30 AM employment data. Immediately before, gold appeared to be wilting back towards Wednesday’s lows, with the August contract down $18.90 as the floor session opened. Huge buying erupted on the release, with gold leaping $37 by 9AM and another $20 by 10AM. This move was closely tracked by Eurogold (although the $US faltered on the news, it quickly substantially recovered). Based on estimated volume, some 118,000 lots traded between 9AM and 10. After a late morning lull, gold resumed rising going into the close, with August settling up $57.90 (3.6%) and ultimately peaking up $62.40 just after 2-05 PM. By the stock market close gold was still $2 above the floor close and 3.84% above Thursday’s 4PM level. Silver was up 2.56%.

Aggregate estimated volume was 280,671 lots, of which some 46,000 lots were on the CME website as of 8AM. The CME Preliminary, which is usually accurate as to volume, puts final trade at 328,150 lots, 16.92% higher.

Gold shares strongly outperformed gold, with the HUI and XAU gapping at the open, peaking up 7.32% and up 6.53% in the early afternoon and holding most of these gains to close up 6.74% and 5.79% respectively. The GDX/GDXJ ratio came in at 6.4%/6.94% but the S&P/TXS Venture Composite only gained 0.14%.

The bullion vehicles were strong. PHYS rose to a 1.99% premium to NAV and CEF jumped to 3.7% (Thursday 1.6% and (1.2%)). The GLD ETF reported adding 3.62278 tonnes to stated gold holdings, bringing them up to 1273.88349 tonnes.

MarketVane’s Bullish Consensus for gold gained 4 points to 57%. The 2012 low was May 16that 51%; the high was February 23rd at 71%. The BC for silver added 2 points to 48%. The HGNSI was unchanged at (2.3%).

Strong support has appeared for the view that the extremely high Turkish May gold imports were due to Iranian demand. The Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reports

See

remarks Friday’s rise

Last summer of course saw gold dominated by powerful Western buyers of a strategic character. JBGJ suspects this is happening again.

That trumpeting on Friday was not a Band!