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Hansen: Gold, silver and the 'energy weapon'
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Saxo Bank's Head of Commodity Strategy, Ole Hansen, has a midweek update on the commodity markets as the debate over 'tough' EU sanctions continues.
Gold, the traditional safe haven is trading within a fairly tight range. 1293 USD is the key support and 1325 USD would be the first resistance level.
Yes, there is some support from the geo-political risks, Gaza and Ukraine, but USD has risen to its strongest level against EUR since February. Gold gave up three weeks of gains last week just before the Malaysian air disaster saw renewed support.
Silver is also within a tight range, 20.60 USD to 21.60 USD, but bullish bets on Silver have risen to levels not seen since September 2010.
With much talk of 'tougher' EU sanctions against Russis on the table, how will energy markets respond? Ole Hansen arues that there's "ample supply" in Europe of gas and oil. So a threat of Russia cutting off supplies wouldn't have drastic implications in the short term. Beside the point that a 'cut off' scenario is an unlikely outcome.
Brent demand is "subdued" according to Ole, as summer sees low demand and increased supply from Libya for example. back to the sanctions debate and Ole Hansen believes neither side wants to use the 'energy weapon' because there would be no winners in a energy trade war between Russia and Europe.