Commentary on the gold market from the World Gold Council

NEW YORK, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- General statement to be attributed to Aram Shishmanian, CEO, World Gold Council:

"It has become increasingly clear over the course of the past week that the fall in the gold price was triggered by speculative traders operating in the futures markets. Their short-term view of generating a trading profit is in stark contrast to the views of long term investors in gold, as evidenced by the massive wave of physical gold buying that began over the weekend and accelerated following Monday's further decline. The surge in gold purchases is spanning markets from India and China to the US, Japan and Europe. Buyers are viewing this as an opportunity to purchase gold at prices not seen in the past couple of years.

The World Gold Council is uniquely positioned in the gold market to get immediate feedback on market patterns.  We are already seeing shortages for bars and coins in Dubai, while premiums in Mumbai are at $26/oz and $6 in Shanghai, indicating that buyers are willing to pay more than current spot prices for the metal.

Clearly the desire to own gold, as an investment and for adornment, has made itself felt in the physical market. Gold operates on the basic economic fundamentals of demand and supply. Our view is that demand is strong while supply remains constrained, and that this dynamic ultimately drives the long-term price of the metal."

SOURCE World Gold Council