Headline News 10.02.11

US & GLOBAL
• Aksi ambil untung investor mendominasi perdagangan sesi Rabu 09 Februari pasca kenaikan tajam indeks dalam beberapa sesi terakhir, namun penguatan
saham Bank of America di akhir sesi berhasil mendorong Dow Jones ditutup di area positif dan mencatat penguatan beruntun dalam 8‐sesi terakhir. Pelaku
pasar optimistis bahwa laporan earning korporasi yang solid masih akan memberi inspirasi penguatan bursa lebih lanjut, meskipun volume perdagangan
yang cukup tipis akhir‐akhir ini mulai menimbulkan kekhawatiran bahwa minat beli investor sudah mulai berkurang.
 
• Raksasa teknologi Cisco Systems Inc pasca penutpan pasar melaporkan laporan keuangan yang lebih tinggi dari perkiraan, meskipun marjin keuntungannya
tidak terlalu menggembirakan. Sementara itu saham‐saham energi dan materal membebani kinerja indeks terdesak proyeksi akan berkurangnya permintaan
dari emerging countries terutama Cina dan India. Indeks Dow Jones <. DJI> naik 6,74 poin atau 0,06% ke 1,239.89, indeks S&P500 <. SPX> turun 3,69 poin
atau 0,28% ke 1,320.88 dan Nasdaq <. IXIC> turun 7,98 poin atau 0,29% ke 2,789.07.
 
• Dollar AS merosot terhadap euro menyusul turunnya imbal hasil obligasi AS yang memicu aksi jual investor terhadap dollar AS terdorong komentar Ketua
Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke bahwa program pembelian obligasi masih akan terus berlanjut. Dollar AS jatuh ke level terendah dalam 3‐hari terakhir
terhadap euro, namun stabil terhadap yen Jepang. Euro sempat menguat hingga level 1,3745 <EUR=> berhasil menembus diatas resistance 1.3740 (level
teknis, 61.8% fibonacci retracement dari pelemahan sejak November hingga Januari), untuk kemudian ditutup naik 0.7% ke level 1,3722.
 
• Investor berharap dengan data fundamental ekonomi akhir‐akhir ini yang positif, The Fed akan mulai berfikir untuk mengakhiri program pembelian obligasi
senilai 600 miliar USD lebih cepat dari yang diharapkan. Namun sebaliknya, Bernanke justru kembali menekankan kekhawatiran tentang angka
pengangguran yang tinggi, kondisi mana menguatkan ekspektasi bahwa quantitative easning The Fed masih akan berlangsung dan akan mendorong
pelemahan dollar AS. Dollar AS tercatat melemah 0,6% terhadap Swiss Franc <CHF=> ke 0,9574 franc dan juga turun 0,2% terhadap sterling ke 1,6102
<GBP=>.
 
• Emas ditutup stagnan dalam sesi perdagangan yang tipis didukung oleh pelemahan dollar AS terhadap mata uang utama dunia pasca komentar Ketua The
Fed ‐ Ben Bernanke. Harga spot emas <XAU=> turun 0,1% ke 1,362.04 USD per troy ounce.
 
• Sementara itu harga minyak mentah Brent crude London melonjak hampir 2% ke level 101.82 USD per barel ditopang pelemahan dollar AS dan masih
berlanjutnya kerusuhan di Mesir yang memicu kekhawatiran akan pasokan minyak di kawasan tersebut. Harga minyak mentah AS untuk pengiriman Maret
<CLH1> ditutup turun 23 sen ke level 86,71 USD per barel.

Gold flat but dollar drop, Bernanke view underpin

NEW YORK | Wed Feb 9, 2011 3:44pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on Wednesday as the market was underpinned by a dollar drop and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment that he had no plans to scrap a massive bond-buying program, indicating interest rates will not rise any time soon.

In testimony to Congress, Bernanke suggested U.S. economic conditions were still too weak for the central bank to pull back on its vast monetary stimulus, despite a welcome drop in the jobless rate.

"I saw the positives to gold in Bernanke's comments. It seems that he's going to maintain the QE2 policy in place, and that's a bullish argument for commodities," said Tom Pawlicki, a precious metals and energy analyst at MF Global.
In November, the Fed launched a plan to buy $600 billion in government debt to keep borrowing costs low to stimulate the economy, a process known as quantitative easing.

Gold was trying to restore upward momentum after gaining more than 4 percent in the past 10 days, and a rise in Chinese interest rates for the second time in just over six weeks benefited gold's status as an inflation hedge.
Spot gold slipped 0.1 percent to $1,362.04 an ounce by 3:02 p.m. EST.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled up $1.40 at $1,365.50. Trading volume nearly halved its 30-day average, in line with weaker turnover in the past several sessions.

Bullion buying increased as the dollar faltered against the euro and as U.S. bond yields fell after a seven-session winning streak following a solid auction of 10-year Treasury notes, traders said.
A run of well-received economic data in January had taken the wind out of gold's sails and increased speculation that a correction was due, pushing prices back toward $1,300 an ounce.

"A lot of speculative (investors) that had gone in at the end of last year clearly saw growth being reignited and they got scared," said London & Capital portfolio manager Pau Morilla Giner. "They thought that gold would lose its appeal."
"But the long-term money in gold is still there," he said. "The realization is that economic news has been better than expected because the stimulus that has been applied has been extraordinary."

Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, dipped to 1,228.56 tonnes on Tuesday from 1,228.864 tonnes the previous day, although the hefty outflows seen in January have apparently been staunched.
The SPDR fund experienced its second-biggest monthly outflow and the main silver ETF, the iShares Silver Trust, its biggest ever outflow last month, adding downward momentum to precious metal prices.

GOLD-SILVER RATIO DROPS

Silver eased 0.7 percent to $30.11 an ounce, after reaching its highest price since January 4 on Tuesday at $30.84 an ounce.

The gold-silver ratio -- the number of silver ounces needed to buy an ounce of gold -- fell to near a five-year low.
"Traders are trying to play the industrial uses of silver. As the economic data has improved, they bought silver over gold, thinking that they would benefit from both silver's precious and industrial aspects," MF Global's Pawlicki said.

However, increasing acceptance of physical gold bullion as collateral by banks and exchanges could provide support to the prices of the yellow metal, Pawlicki said.
Earlier this week, J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM.N) said it would accept physical gold as collateral with its counterparties as a growing number of clients look to use bullion as a hedge against inflation.
LCH.Clearnet also said it was hoping to accept gold as collateral later this year.

Platinum and palladium rose back to multi-year highs on Wednesday at $1,865 and $836.75 an ounce, respectively, boosted by firmer gold prices, a softer dollar, and expectations that demand from carmakers for the autocatalyst metals will improve.
Platinum slipped 0.2 percent to $1,850.99 an ounce, while palladium dropped 1.4 percent to $826.45.
Prices at 3:11 p.m. EST

LAST/ NET PCT YTD

CLOSE CHG CHG CHG US gold 1365.50 1.40 0.1% -3.9% US silver 30.276 0.005 0.0% -2.1% US platinum 1859.40 -2.50 -0.1% 4.6% US palladium 826.45 -12.00 -1.4% 2.9%
Gold 1362.06 -1.53 -0.1% -4.0% Silver 30.12 -0.19 -0.6% -2.4% Platinum 1851.24 -4.00 -0.2% 4.7% Palladium 823.72 -12.00 -1.4% 3.0%
Gold Fix 1365.00 2.50 0.2% -3.2% Silver Fix 30.22 80.00 2.7% -1.3% Platinum Fix 1858.00 5.00 0.3% 7.3% Palladium Fix 835.00 1.00 0.1% 5.6%