precious metals flash

Gold tested supports at the Comex open yesterday, quickly knocking out some weak longs below 1750. Activity took place in the options market, where 1800 call strikes expiring today on Comex were bought aggressively, as well as some good interest in the 1900 and 2000 call strikes on the April contract. The market then waited for Europeans to leave and a late push by funds took out the 1765 level, triggering momentum buying and 1.6 Mio. ounces to change hands in just 10 minutes. 1782 was the high in spot and 1800 might be the point of interest today until option expiry. There are 549’000 ounces of open interest on the 1800 and 543’000 ounces on the 1750 strike. Silver looks also interesting, where 5.7 Mio. ounces of open interest sit on the 34 USD strike, while 10.9 Mio. ounces on the 35 USD strike. The European afternoon belonged to Platinum again yesterday, when Impala announced that clients might have to take a cut of 50% in April deliveries. Platinum rallied another 15 USD following the news and did another leg higher tonight in Asia to a high of 1732. We’ll keep our eyes on Silver and Gold today, where we expect them to target levels close to 35 or 1800 respectively, from where it would then be healthy to consolidate and for long holders to probably take profits.