http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html

cheers GF.

Interesting read..

Gold Jumps as Government Spending Boosts Inflation-Hedge Demand

By Pham-Duy Nguyen

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) --

Gold rose to the highest closing price in almost five months in New York on speculation that government spending will spur inflation, boosting demand for the precious metal as a hedge. Silver also gained.

Investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, rose 4.7 percent last week to a record 832.6 metric tons. In 2008, the metal advanced for the eighth straight year as U.S. equity and commodity indexes lost more than 30 percent.

Massive injections of liquidity into the global banking system will serve to drive gold prices higher, said Dennis Gartman, an economist and the editor of the Gartman Letter in Suffolk, Virginia.

Gold futures for April delivery climbed $13, or 1.4 percent, to close at $910.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchanges Comex division, the highest for a most-active contract since Aug. 1. The price reached $918.20, the highest intraday price since Oct. 10.

Silver futures for March delivery gained 17 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $12.11 an ounce. The metal slumped 24 percent in 2008, while gold gained 5.5 percent.

U.S. President Barack Obama today urged swift congressional action on an $825 billion recovery package. Lawmakers already have spent $350 billion of a $700 billion financial-rescue fund to shore up lenders.

Banks worldwide have posted more than $1 trillion in credit losses and writedowns related to the credit crisis. The Federal Reserve has slashed its benchmark interest rate to almost zero percent to spur growth as the yearlong U.S. recession deepened.

Gold may average $975 in the second quarter, possibly topping $1,000, on demand for a store of value, Deutsche Bank AG said in a report on Jan. 23.

The eventual stimulus plan will weaken the dollar to support gold, Deutsche Bank said.

The dollar fell as much as 1.4 percent against a weighted basket of six major currencies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 26, 2009 14:36 EST

Interesting piece to read-

New Trends for 2009: Are Commodities and Gold Regaining Strength?
by: R. Raynovich January 27, 2009

This Last week saw some very interesting turns in the market. Stocks displayed some renewed weakness. Treasury bonds sold off violently and gold broke out of a consolidation pattern to the upside, taking out the $880 mark which has served as a ceiling through much of its correction in the 2H of 2008.

Its important to note that while gold (GLD) is off the highs in US Dollar terms ($1,000), it has broken out to new highs in almost every other global currency the UK Pound and Euro included. This is indicative of a strong bull market in gold and also shows that global confidence in world currencies is sinking as central banks resort to the printing press to solve our problems. Bad move, considering the printing presses are what got us into the problems in the first place.

I believe the only reason that gold has not made new highs in 2008 in U.S. Dollar terms is because of the artificial flight-to-quality into the US Dollar, which is most likely a short-term phenomenon. I am gaining new confidence in the case for the gold bull market to enter its strongest phase: panic buying. Heres a fact thats not often recited by the gold skeptics: We are now in the eighth year of a strong gold bull market, which is likely to continue for, in my estimation, at least another three years. Gold has averaged a 16% annual gain in Dollar terms for the past eight years. Clearly it is the best performing asset class in the decade. You might ask if its getting late in the move, but the fundamentals are still supportive.

The gold bull market is reflective of how dependent our governments have become on creating and pushing debt on its people a trend that is accelerating. Because of the breakout of the gold and strength in mining stocks, I would recommend at looking to buy some of the mining and exploration stocks including RGLD, PAAS, NEM, and AUY. You can also buy a basket of mining stocks with GDX. This sector was crushed in the October/November sell-off, but it is now bouncing back violently with mining asset prices being supported by the moves in gold and silver. This will be a careful area to watch because these stocks have established early leadership in 2009. You can read more details about mining stocks and track my investment choices at Futures Fanatic.

Another interesting trend to watch is that commodities are displaying renewed strength, especially in relation to equities. Last week commodities and hard assets outperformed equities. Could this be a sign of a trend that will be established in 2009? It is something that bears close watching. The chart below shows the potential for an interesting turn in the commodities sector

Added more POG on a pullback to 486p, dont think we shall see that again for a while.

Interesting to note that recognia (Software TA) have a price target of 730p to 797p on POG.


Peter Hambro Mining PLC (POG.L:LSE)
Industry: Metals and Mining

More...

Event Date: 26 Jan 2009
Opportunity Type: Intermediate-Term Bullish
Close Price: 503.00
Target Price Range: 730.00 - 797.00

Price Period: Daily
Volume: 1,165,263
Pattern Duration: 85 days
Inbound Trend Duration: 86 days


26 Jan 2009 Head and Shoulders Bottom Intermediate-Term Bullish 503.00 730.00 - 797.00

26 Jan 2009 Commodity Channel Index Short-Term Bullish 503.00 n/a

26 Jan 2009 MACD Short-Term Bullish 503.00 n/a

26 Jan 2009 Triple Moving Average Crossover (4-day 9-day 18-day) Short-Term Bullish 503.00 n/a

Nicely into the blue now and hopefully another profitable day.

Up we go over $900 again.

From Minesite:-

January 27, 2009

Peter Hambro Mining Heads Towards Production Of 500,000 Ounces Of Gold This Year, And At A Tidy Margin Too.

By Alastair Ford

Shares in PETER HAMBRO MINING surged more than 20 per cent to around 500p earlier this week, after the Russian-focussed gold miner stated in a trading update that total attributable gold production for the year to December 2008 had come in at 393,600 ounces. Of that total, 267,100 ounces was from the companys main Pokrovskiy mine, 72,900 ounces was from the Pioneer mine, still in the ramp up stage, and 22,700 ounces came from the companys alluvial operations. The remainder was from local joint ventures. The total was at the upper end of the range of Peter Hambros forecast for the year of between 350,000 to 400,000 ounces of production.
As one of the most shorted companies on the Aim market, that share price rise will have caught plenty of people on the hop, although the activities of the big banks and the CFD merchants are unlikely to be much abated, and indeed the regulatory disclosures kept on coming after this particular piece of news was in. Minesite put the issue of the heavy shorting of Peter Hambro shares to the great man himself a few weeks ago, just after the proposed offer for iron ore spin-out Aricom was announced. But Peters a wily old market operator, and knows how to give a charming response to a nosy journalist actually saying anything that will upset his lawyers or the FSA. On that occasion the phrasing was as follows: I watch these announcements with just as much interest as you do. This time round, in the wake of the trading update, his response is slightly more nuanced: We cant be in that much trouble if were producing record amounts of gold at record margins.

The market, it has to be said in the wake of yesterdays share price rise, tends to agree. The trading update was short on specifics about costs, although the implication was strongly made that foreign exchange movements, plus a weaker oil price, would help keep costs to a minimum going forward, and perhaps offset the rampant inflation that the industry experienced for much of last year. In any case, for the first half of 2008 the company has already reported cash costs for Pokrovskiy at a very attractive US$214 per ounce, and overall production costs at an undemanding US$306 per ounce. Peter Hambro says he cant release the cost numbers for the full year in this particular trading update because the numbers have yet to be audited. However, the trading statement does say that the average selling price per ounce for the companys gold was US$845, so margins do indeed look very healthy, especially as grades and tonnages from Pokrovskiy remain consistent. This time round production from the plant there was boosted by high grade output from Pioneer. However, looking ahead, the better-than-expected grades from Pioneer have lead to a decision that all the ore from Pioneer will now go through Pioneers own resin plant.

What with the proposed development of Malomir, and the emergence of zones of high-grade oxidized ore there, the only thing left for the market to choke on as it read this update over its cornflakes was the ongoing issue of the companys long-term debt. This may be the big issue of our time, but Peter Hambro seems to have outflanked most of the skeptics as regards his own companys situation with the proposed acquisition of cashed-up spin-off company Aricom. The next redemptions Peter Hambro will face will be on US$180 million of convertible notes in October. Thats nine months away, and lately nine months has seemed like a very long time in the markets. Certainly its time enough to nail down the acquisition of Aricom, with its cash pile of over US$250 million. And its time enough indeed for sentiment to shift yet again, for refinancing to cease to be the issue it is today, and for the rolling over of a debt package like the one Peter Hambros carrying once again to become relatively easy.

If that latter scenario pans out, then the Aricom money wont actually be touched, and the Aricom iron ore assets will continue to have some equity finance behind them to support development work. Whether the market believes that the US$1 billion of debt finance they also need will be any more forthcoming with the assets back in the Peter Hambro fold remains to be seen. Certainly speculation about the likely outcome of the up-coming negotiations with Asian buyers for the iron ore price theyre willing to pay has all tended towards suggesting a weaker price. Thatll hit sentiment, even if the economics of Aricoms Garinskoye and K&S assets still hold up. But in the meantime, Peter Hambro itself will be heading towards a gold production target of between 460,000 ounces and 510,000 ounces for this year, in an environment where costs will at the very least stabilize while the gold price continues to rise. And that sort of production number should provide plenty of succour to even the twitchiest of investors.

At the time of posting price of gold back over $900.

Could be a good day wednesday.

That long awaited Broker note just out and good news-

From Seymour Pierce FYI:

Peter Hambro Mining (UNDER REVIEW) - Trading statement - 2008 gold output at upper end of expectations

POG.L (406p) Market Cap 329.49m

POG announced gold output of 393,600oz in 2008 today, up 36% YoY from 2007 and at upper end of its targeted 350-400koz. This included a 13% rise at Pokrovsky, its principal operation to 267,100oz and exceeded its own production target by 19%. Pioneer, its new mine that started up in June, produced 72,900oz, 900oz above target. Cash costs, which are at the lower end of the industry cost curve at an estimated caUS$210oz in 2008 (from ca US$191in 2007 and against an industry average of US$498oz in 2007) should have benefited from the significant rouble depreciation during 2H08 (from ca23 to $ to current over 32). We have the stock under review as we rebuild our model, but these results appear encouraging.

Tipped in the recent Shares mag as a buy, particularly given that POG will buy ORE at a knock down price. However, one thing that I wasn't aware of (lack of research on my part) is that POG issued gold exchangeable bonds back in 2007, which are eligible for redemption in october '09. It is highly likely that those bonds will be redeemed at any price, but if gold goes above $1000/oz then the bonds will be in profit & therefore it is even more likely that the whole lot will be cashed in, with the resultant substantial reduction of POG's cash reserves.
Lots of things can happen between now & then, but autumn this year might see a difficult time for POG.

MoneyAM
"Peter Hambro Mining says it hopes to reach final agreement shortly on a merger with Aricom.

The companies are working on a deal which would see Aricom shareholders receive one Peter Hambro share for between 15.77 and 17.14 Aricom shares.

However Peter Hambro says agreement has not yet been reached on the exchange ratio and certain other terms and the merger is not certain to go ahead.

Meanwhile Peter Hambro Mining is launching a placing today aimed at raising around 55 million to increase working capital.

The company says the merger if it goes ahead will create a mining industry leader in the far east of Russia with operations in both gold and iron ore with a combined market capitalisation, excluding the placing proceeds, of $1.1 billion.

The enlarged group would have a cash balance of $282 million and debt of $88 million.

'Peter Hambro Mining would be able to implement its existing strategy of pursuing near-term growth of gold production while allowing for the development of Aricom's large iron ore assets once project finance and iron ore markets recover.' "

sorry to see that some of you guys will have been badly burned o'night, or at least had any profits paper decimated

A great chance to buy some cheap shares imo.

don't reckon they're cheap at this level and also depends on the ultimate dilution

OT

MKS possible break-out today are you in..?

New article click HERE

Changed my mind they could become even more cheaper.

"more cheaper"????? .... what sort of schooling did you have - lol!
actually, the cheap way in was to have bought ORE this morning at 26p as i did

After some number crunching and further investigating yes i would agree this is a good debt for equity swap deal for POG.

This is significant

.. The enlarged group would have a cash balance of $282 million and debt of $88 million.

Plus the company would be seeking a listing on the main market.

A good sound deal.

Coincides more or less with analyst predictions for gold going on for $1000 http://www.financialexpress.com/news/UBS-lifts-2009-gold-price-forecast-to-1-000/419267/

and a awakening of shipping rates with this which should be good news for iron ore

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aiE9...

Commodity Shipping Index Advances the Most Since at Least 1985

By Alistair Holloway and Alaric Nightingale

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, rose the most since at least 1985 in London as the number of idled capesizes fell to almost zero, indicating strengthening demand for iron ore.

Capesize rates have risen more than ninefold from a record low of $2,316 a day on Dec. 2. Steelmakers may be replenishing stocks in China after they fell 22 percent by mid-January from a record in September. Producers abroad, faced with an oversupply of iron ore, may also be shipping ore to China for storage.

This has been the first day of the year when the buzz has been back, Michael Gaylard, strategic director at Freight Investor Services Ltd., a shipping-derivatives broker, said by phone from London. Theres no doubt that enquiry for physical tonnage is consistent and strong.

Merril Lynch predicts gold to rise to $1500

http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2009/2/pages/02032009_6fce22dd78604ed19eeb0ca3276fb9b0.aspx