Gold futures have continued their quest for all-time highs today, and options players are reacting by opening new bullish bets on stocks within the precious metals sector. One such equity is Yamana Gold (AUY), which saw call volume ramp up to more than double its daily average by midday.

Within the first couple hours of the session, about 24,000 calls changed hands on AUY, easily outstripping its average daily volume of roughly 11,000 calls. The most active strike today is AUY’s January 2011 15 call, with 4,079 contracts trading. The majority of these calls traded at the ask price, indicating they were most likely purchased. Not far behind is AUY’s April 2011 20 call, where 2,774 contracts crossed the tape — 78% at the ask price.

Continue reading Call Volume Surges on Yamana Gold

Call Volume Surges on Yamana Gold originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Put volume skyrocketed Tuesday on Newmont Mining (NEM), with roughly 22,000 contracts crossing the tape within the first 90 minutes of the session. By contrast, NEM was only expected to see about 1,800 puts change hands — so this surge represents about 12 times the norm.

The equity’s November 60 put is far and away the most active. By 11 a.m., this out-of-the-money strike had already seen in excess of 13,200 contracts exchanged, with 59% of these puts trading at the ask price. Implied volatility on this back-month option has climbed by 2.6 percentage points to 35.2%, so it seems likely that buyers are driving the bulk of today’s volume.

Continue reading Put Players Flock to Newmont Mining

Put Players Flock to Newmont Mining originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Gold Hits 2010 High in Europe

Gold Hits 2010 High in Europe originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 May 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Despite the ever high gold prices, Indians have ignored the price factor and continued to buy the yellow metal on the auspicious day of Dhanteras, when Indians believe they could attain fortuity by having gold.
Reports showed that around 15 tonnes of gold were sold off in a single day across India on Dhanteras, though the prices for a ten gram gold cost at Rs 16000 as against Rs 12070 per 10 gram in the previous year.
Traders said the business was dull during October until 15 Thursday, when consumers poured into the jewellery shops and banks to purchase gold. Traders expressed hopes that this buying streak is expected to continue to next couple days after Diwali.

Marketmen said gold soared in tune with global rates, where prices touched a new peak of USD1,070.80 an ounce on weakening of dollar against its major rivals.

Besides, buying activity gathered momentum as stockists indulged in creating fresh positions to meet demand from jewellery fabricators ahead of Diwali, they said.

In London, gold set a new peak of USD1,070.80 an ounce on weakening dollar. Gold has jumped around 20% this year. Silver also touched a fresh high of USD18.08 an ounce, the highest since July 2008, as weakening dollar shifted investors’ attention to fast yielding assets like bullion.

The Gold Price ticked lower in early London trading on Friday, slipping through yesterday’s low of $1045 per ounce to stand unchanged on the week.
Dropping 2.5% from Wednesday’s new record high for Dollar investors, the Gold Price headed towards the weekend lower against all other major currencies bar the Japanese Yen.

US gold futures ended lower on Thursday as the dollar stemmed recent losses and the metal consolidated gains after a sharp rally to record highs in the last two sessions. Gold decreased $14.10 in New York trading to close at $1,050.60 per ounce.

GOLD SALES IN INDIA

“By tomorrow, we expect the sale of almost 200 kg of gold and 1,000 kg of silver in Lucknow city market alone,” Uttar Pradesh Bullion Association office bearer Shiv Narain Agarwal told Business Standard.

“There is no effect of high bullion prices or the so called economic slowdown in the buying pattern of the shoppers this year,” he noted.

Interestingly, he claimed that the sale of gold and silver jewellery was almost three times the volumes recorded last year. The bullion shops are open till late night hours to allow people buy.

With the Diwali festival of lights celebrated across the Hindu world tomorrow, "Some Indian buying has picked up," reports London dealer Mitsui, "but we expect this to retreat again fairly quickly.

"Perhaps that the supply side is winning the battle at the moment, with physical sales appearing in Asia today – the third day running we have seen this."

"Selling in the physical gold market is adding to resistance," agrees Walter de Wet at Standard Bank. "However, we still favour Buying Gold dips. Gold support is at $1402 and $1035."