Hoarding of gold

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32539, 24 February 1971, Page 15

Hoarding of gold

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 23.

A huge increase in gold hoarding in the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and in Singapore, and more gold smuggling into Indonesia, have been disclosed by one of London’s best-known bullion dealers. The London banker and bullion merchant, Samuel Montague, said in its yearly review that, generally speculators and investors were less active last year than in 1969, and their stocks had been reduced by about eight million ounces.

There were, however, strong demands from hoarders in the Indian subcontinent, which accounted for the increase in imports from 4.5 million ounces to 7.5 million ounces. The Middle East demand was estimated at slightly below 11 million ounces, compared with about seven million ounces in 1969. A feature of the Far East was Singapore’s development as an important market, the demand there increasing from fewer than one million ounces to more than 4.5 million ounces. This, the review said, reflected the quantity smuggled into Indonesia.

In a forecast on the free market price of gold, Samuel Montague anticipated that during the year it would reach SUS4O an ounce from time to time. On the London market yesterday, it rose by 2.5 cents to $U538.75.