Gold prices drop to near three-year low on U.S. data

June 26, 2013

Gold_prices_dropSingapore, Jun 26: Gold fell to its lowest in nearly three years on Wednesday, pressured by strong U.S. economic data that boosted stock markets and supported the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to scale back its monetary easing measures in the next few months.

Bullion, now down for a seventh session out of eight, has been sliding since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke laid out a strategy last Wednesday to wind down the bank's $85 billion monthly bond purchases on the back of a recovering economy.

Prices of gold, typically seen as hedge against inflation, have been supported in recent years by central bank steps to support their economies.

Spot gold fell 2 percent to $1,251.50 an ounce by 0413 GMT. Gold for immediate delivery fell to $1,243.94 earlier - its lowest since September 2010.

The metal has now lost 10 percent, or about $140 an ounce, since the beginning of last week.

"We've pushed past the $1,270 level seen last week. That's a key technical level so we are going through a whole bunch of stop losses," said Victor Thianpiriya, commodities analyst at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Comex gold and spot silver both fell to their lowest since August 2010.

Strong economic data has prompted the Fed's decision to consider a wind-down of bond purchases from later this year and end purchases by mid-2014, raising fears that central banks around the world would pull support.

Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence jumped in June to its highest level in more than five years, while sales of new U.S. single-family homes rose to their highest level in nearly five years in May.

PHYSICAL DEMAND SUBDUED

When gold fell the most in thirty years in mid-April after 12 annual gains, strong physical demand in Asia helped cap losses.

However, this time around demand has not risen strongly enough to support prices as buyers are waiting on the sidelines for the markets to stabilize.

"In April we had a lot of demand, it made it hard to get hold of bullion," said Gregor Gregersen of Silver Bullion Pte Ltd, a gold and silver dealer in Singapore. "This time, we saw an increase in demand but not the way we saw in April."

Liquidity issues in China have renewed fears of a slowdown in the No. 2 gold consumer.

The People's Bank of China has raised concerns of a lasting credit crunch as it tries to curtail a vast informal loan market and shore up growth, although it has sought to allay fears that its tough stance will lead to a banking crisis.

Shanghai gold futures fell nearly 3 percent on Wednesday.

Demand in India, the top gold consumer, has fallen as the government imposes new rules to discourage gold buying in an effort to reduce a record current account deficit.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 16.23 tonnes to 969.50 tonnes on Tuesday, to their lowest since February 2009.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
June 9,2020

Bijnor: A 17-year-old Dalit youth was shot dead by four miscreants belonging to the upper caste of Hinduism after the former tried to enter a temple in Uttar Pradesh.

The deceased was identified as Vikas Jatav. The accused had tried to stop the deceased from entering into a temple. 

On being stopped from entering the temple located in Domkhera village, Jatav raised and objection and started arguing with the accused. 

The accused were identified as - Lala Chauhan, Horam Chauhan, Bhushan and Jasveer. The incident took place on May 31, according to the father of the deceased. 

How it happened 
On May 31, Jatav went to a temple in Domkhera to offer his prayers. The four accused, however, did not let him go inside. Following this, an argument broke out between the accused and the 17-year-old boy. 

On the same day, the victim approached the police and lodged a complaint in relation to the incident. The police, however, did not take any action against the accused men. 

Late night on Saturday, Jatav was sleeping inside his house when the four men barged in and opened fire at him. 

Hearing the gunshots, Jatav's family rushed to rescue him, following which, the accused escaped. Vikas was profusely bleeding after being shot and succumbed to the injuries before he could reach the hospital. 

Lala Chauhan and Horam were nabbed by the police while the other two are still at large. The four accused have been booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST Act.

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News Network
January 22,2020

Jan 22: Microsoft Corp’s chief executive officer said he worries that mistrust between the US and China will increase technology costs and hurt economic growth at a critical time.

Using the $470 billion semiconductor industry as an example of a sector that is already globally interconnected, Satya Nadella said the two countries will have to find ways to work together, rather than creating different supply chains for each country.

“All you are doing is increasing transaction costs for everybody if you completely separate,” Nadella said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead conference in Davos. That’s a concern as the executive said the world is on the cusp of a revolution around technology and artificial intelligence.

“If we take steps back in trust or increase transaction costs around technology, all we are doing is sacrificing global economic growth,” he said.

The agreement signed last week between the US and China was “not sufficient,” said Nadella, but represented “progress” on the issue of intellectual property protections for US technology companies working with China.

Nadella said he worries about the development of two separate internets, noting that to some degree they already exist “and they will get amplified in the future” with massive technology companies already in place in China.

The viewpoint clashes with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has been sceptical about the idea that ongoing US-China trade tensions could ever lead to a bifurcated system of two internets.

China and the US are the two leading AI superpowers, however the cooling political relations between them have slowed the international collaboration.

Nadella also warned that countries that fail to attract immigrants will lose out as the global tech industry continues to grow. The CEO has previously voiced concern about India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, calling it “sad.”

“However, Nadella said he remained hopeful.

“The fact that there is a 70-year history of nation-building, I think it’s a very strong foundation. I grew up in that country. I’m proud of that heritage. I’m influenced by that experience.”

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Agencies
February 16,2020

New Delhi, Feb 16: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal was on Sunday sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row at Ramlila Maidan here, after his party registered a massive victory in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly polls.

Kejriwal was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

The sprawling Ramlila Maidan reverberated with sounds of thousands of people cheering for the AAP leader.

Kejriwal who received a hero's welcome here had extended an invitation to the people of Delhi urging them to attend the swearing-in ceremony to witness "the son of Delhi" taking oath today.

The AAP nearly repeated its 2015 performance in the elections, sweeping the Assembly polls winning 62 seats in the 70-member Assembly, in the face of a high-voltage campaign by the BJP, which fielded a battery of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers in its electioneering spearheaded by Home Minister Amit Shah. 

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