Cyprus parliament to consider deposit tax; European stocks fall

Cyprus's parliament votes on Monday on a plan to seize money from bank deposits as part of an EU bailout, a move that has sent a shiver across the bloc, caused the euro to tumble and stock markets to dive.

The announcement at the weekend that tiny Cyprus would impose a tax on bank accounts as part of a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout broke with previous European practice that depositors' savings were sacrosanct.Ahead of the vote in parliament, the government was working on a plan to soften the blow to smaller savers, by tilting more of the tax towards those with deposits greater than 100,000 euros. The government says Cyprus has no choice but to accept the bailout with the levy on deposits, or go bankrupt.

Residents on the island emptied its cash machines to get their funds over the weekend. The move not only infuriated Cypriots, it unnerved depositors in the euro zone's weaker economies and investors fearing a precedent that could reignite market turmoil.

The euro fell in early trade, as did the rouble and currencies in central and eastern Europe.
London's FTSE 100, Frankfurt's DAX and Paris's CAC 40 all fell between 1.5 and 2 percent on opening. Moscow's MICEX was down 2.4 percent.

Brussels has emphasized that the measure is a one-off for a country that accounts for just 0.2 percent of European output. The worst fear is that savers in other, larger European countries could become nervous and start withdrawing funds, although there was no immediate sign of that early on Monday.
"Despite reassurances from Brussels that Cyprus is a special case and that indiscriminate levies won't be a common policy tool, depositors across Europe are doubting their sincerity and are fearing that a new precedent has been set for other debt-laden euro zone countries," Jonathan Sudaria, dealer at Capital Spreads, said in a note.

U.S. economist Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times: "It's as if the Europeans are holding up a neon sign, written in Greek and Italian, saying 'Time to stage a run on your banks!'"

PUSHED BACK
Monday is a bank holiday in Cyprus, giving the government until Tuesday to approve the measures before banks open. The bailout is needed mainly to recapitalize banks.
Approval in the fractious 56-member parliament is far from a given: no party has an absolute majority and three parties say outright they will not back the tax. A vote initially planned for Sunday was rescheduled to give more time to build a consensus.

Faced with a growing public backlash, Cypriot finance ministry officials began discussions with lenders on Sunday to lessen the blow for smaller savers.
A source close to the consultations told Reuters authorities were hoping to cut the tax to 3.0 percent from 6.7 percent for deposits under 100,000 euros. The rate for deposits above that would then be jacked up to 12.5 percent from 9.9 percent.

In Brussels, a spokesman for Olli Rehn, the European commissioner in charge of economic affairs, said changes to the amounts paid by different depositors could be acceptable given that the financial impact would be the same.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, a conservative elected just three weeks ago, said in a TV address that the tax was an alternative to a disorderly bankruptcy. It was painful, but "will eventually stabilize the economy and lead it to recovery."

Savers who lost money would be compensated by shares in commercial banks, with equity returns guaranteed by future revenues expected from natural gas discoveries, Anastasiades said. But many legislators remain unconvinced.
"Essentially parliament is called to legalize a decision to rob depositors blind, against every written and unwritten law," said Yiannakis Omirou, speaker of parliament and head of EDEK, the small Socialist party. "We refuse to subscribe to this."

Cyprus's banking sector is large for such a tiny country, and its banks have been severely hurt by exposure to much larger neighbor Greece.
Its open economy has meant that its banks also attract cash from Russians. Moscow is also considering extending an existing 2.5 billion euro loan to help bail the island out.
A Russian government source said there was no decision yet on whether to extend the loan or whether to involve Russian investors in the recapitalization. A visit by the Cyprus finance minister to Russia was postponed.

Russia's Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach was quoted as saying he did not believe the Cyprus action would affect Russia's domestic capital flows.
Many foreigners live on Cyprus, including large communities of expatriates from Britain, which maintains a military base there. The government in London has said it will guarantee the deposits of its military service members stationed there. ($1 = 0.7654 euros)

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New Source:vwww.reuters.com

China May Limit Gold to 2% of Foreign Reserves,

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China is likely to limit its gold holdings to 2 percent of its total foreign exchange reserves, said Yi Gang, a deputy Chinese central bank governor.

The People’s Bank of China last made known changes to its gold reserves in 2009, announcing that it held 1,054 metric tons. The bank hasn’t made any revisions since then. That’s about 1.8 percent of its total reserves, according to data from the World Gold Council.

“If the Chinese government were to buy too much gold, gold prices would surge, a scenario that will hurt Chinese consumers,” Yi said today in a press briefing in Beijing. “We can only invest about 1-2 percent of the foreign exchange reserves into gold because the market is too small.”
The nation’s reserves, which have surged more than 700 percent since 2004, surpassed the value of all official bullion holdings in January 2004 and rose to $3.3 trillion at the end of 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Gold has fallen about 4.7 percent this year as the U.S. stocks extended a record rally amid speculation that the FederalReserve may rein in stimulus as the recovery gains traction, curbing demand for safe-haven assets.

China was expected to displace India as the biggest gold consumer last year, according to forecast in November from the producer-funded World Gold Council. Chinese investors sought to protect their wealth by buying gold, after government measures to curb real estate prices and as China’s stock market has fallen in the past decade even though nominal gross domestic product rose fourfold.

Foreign Reserves

About two-thirds of China’s foreign reserves are dollar- denominated and another quarter is in euros, according to Yao Wei, a Hong Kong-based economist at Societe Generale SA. China is now encouraging companies and residents to keep more foreign currency in a strategy known as “hiding foreign currencies among people,” meaning that the government’s foreign reserves may “gradually fall,” Yang said.

Gold capped a 12th annual advance in 2012 and rose to a record of $1,921.15 an ounce in 2011. Gold for immediate delivery were little changed today at $1,591.95 at 6:29 p.m. Beijing time.
“We will always keep gold in mind as an option in reserve assets and investments,” Yi said. “We are able to import 500-600 tons a year, or more, but we will also take into consideration a stable gold market.”

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News Source: www.reuters.com

Gold and silver bullion are on the move

The price movement of gold and silver often attract much attention. When prices make a noticeable increase, it regularly leads to perma-bulls calling for the next great explosion in precious metals. On the other hand, any dips or corrections lead to critics calling for an end to the 12-year bull market. Both sides are debatable, but there is no denying that physical bullion made impressive moves this past week.

The Bundesbank confirmed reports and announced it will repatriate a portion of its foreign gold reserves. By 2020, the central bank intends to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults within the country, compared to only 31% now. The other half will remain in New York and London. The plan will remove 300 tonnes of gold from New York, reducing Germany’s percentage of reserves held at the New York Federal Reserve from 45% to 37%. Another 374 tonnes will be relocated from Paris to Frankfurt, which removes all of Germany’s gold held in France’s capital.

Central banks have shown a great deal of interest in gold over the past few years. For the first-time in decades, central banks across the globe became net buyers of the precious metal in 2009. Last year, central bank purchases increased 17% to 536 metric tons, according to Thomas Reuters GFMS. This represents the biggest addition to gold reserves in 48 years. The organization also expects central banks to add another 280 tons in the first half of 2013.

Silver making moves too…

Gold is not the only precious metal making moves this week. The iShares Silver Trust, which is the biggest exchange-traded fund for silver, added 572 tons of the metal. It is the biggest increase in assets for the BlackRock  managed fund since December 2007. The ETF has received inflows of more than $600 million this week, leading all ETFs in the marketplace. According to Bloomberg and Barclays, global investment through all silver-backed exchange-traded products is at a record 19,114 tons.

Demand in silver coins is also showing strength. The U.S. Mint suspended sales of the new American Silver Eagle. In a statement to authorized purchasers, the Mint explains, “The United States Mint has temporarily sold out of 2013 American Eagle Silver Bullion coins. As a result, sales are suspended until we can build up an inventory of these coins. Sales will resume on or about the week of January 28, 2013, via the allocation process.”

The 2013 American Silver Eagle was initially released on Jan. 7, 2013. On the first day of availability, the Mint received more than 3.9 million orders, the highest one-day of sales in the history of the program. According to the latest information on the Mint’s website, sales have reached about 6 million coins for January and are on pace to surpass the all-time high of 6.1 million coins set in January 2012.



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News Source: www.reutuers.com

Gold and Silver Miners Show Strength as Futures Decline

On Tuesday, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for February delivery, the most active contract, dropped $25.30 to settle at $1,695.80 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) fell 95 cents to close at $32.78.

Both precious metals declined as political rhetoric over the fiscal continues to dominate headlines. In an interview on Bloomberg Television, President Barack Obama said, “We have the potential of getting a deal done.”

 However, he also added, “We’re going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up, and we’re not going to be able to get a deal without it.” The statement shows that both sides of the aisle still have some work to do before reaching an agreement.

Some analysts believe that a failure to prevent the fiscal cliff will send gold prices lower, as everything in the market will selloff in the short-term. However, long-term bullish trends like ultra-low interest rates still remain in place for precious metals. Australia’s central bank cut interest rates by 0.25 percent to 3.0 percent on Tuesday, matching the lowest level on record since 2009.

In afternoon trading, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) fell about 1.0 percent, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) declined 2.0 percent. Gold miners (NYSEARCA:GDX) performed better, with Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) and Goldcorp(NYSE:GG) both jumping more than 1.0 percent. First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) and Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) also climbed higher.

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