Weekly Gold bulletin in Layman’s terms! – The UK Gold price
on May 1st, 2012 at 16:59The London Gold Spot Price
The Gold price in London and the UK is determined via what is
known as the London Spot Fix. Effectively this is the gold price per ounce including
other precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium and is determined
daily at 10:30 and 15:00 GMT via a brief conference call among the five members of the London
Gold Pool (Scotia-Mocatta, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Société
Générale). The London spot fix price is then fixed to a price at the moment
when the conference call ends. See the latest real time gold price here.
The London Gold pool is supported by Associates of the London Bullion
Market Association (LBMA) which provides the daily spot fix prices across the
precious metals industry. This is communicated in UK Pounds, US Dollars and
Euros. The price does not remain fixed throughout the morning and throughout
the afternoon, however, and will fluctuate immediately after the spot fix.
How does it work?
When you buy Gold via one of the five mentioned firms (or via smaller providers who
set their price in accordance with the London Gold Fix), investors will pay the price at the next fix that day. In simple
terms, you make the purchase prior to knowing the actual cost; the London Gold
Fix determines the price later. This is a tantalizing balancing act, if the fix
is very high, investors will shop elsewhere. Actually most people would rather
not purchase gold in this unclear way; people and investors who buy Gold via
the spot market typically have a frantic need for it immediately, maybe they
are restricted by law to command a proportion of their assets in Gold. As a result,
the big 5 who fix the spot price of Gold have a motivation to fix it as low as
possible (to attract more people who want to invest in gold) without losing
money. When the fix is very low, then more people are willing to buy Gold in
the next spot cycle, and then the cost will be fixed slightly higher.
This can be a confusing subject for the person in the street Gold seller but Spot fixing is
basically how the “big 5” players and smaller providers attract customers who
want to invest in Gold and subsequently provides a pricing model across the
board from market investors to people who have scrap gold to
sell to provide themselves with some hard earned cash for Gold!
Please remember to obtail an up to date free Gold valuation here.



