LBMA Gold trading volume drops in January

UNITED KINGDOM March 01 2017 4:46 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): Trading activity among members of the London Bullion Market Association was subdued last month has prices rose from one year highs, according to the associations latest trade data.

The LBMA said that gold prices averaged $1,192.62 per ounce in January, a rise of 3.6% from December’s lows, ending a four-month losing streak. However, the daily average volume of ounces traded in the month dropped 15.5% to 20.5 million.

The average value of transfers increased slightly by 12.4% to $24.4 billion. The average number of transfers daily was relatively unchanged at 3,070, with clearers settling on average 6,660 ounces per transfer. 

Silver also saw similar subdued activity as prices increased. The LBMA said that silver prices averaged $16.81 an ounce, a 2.6% increase from December. At the same time the daily average volume dropped 4.8%, to 207.5 million ounces with the value dropping 2.3% at $3.49 billion.

The number of daily transfers dropped by 5.9% to 966, with the clearers settling on average 212,297 ounces per transfer an increase of, 5.5% from the previous month.

The LBMA’s average daily clearing statistics represent the transfers between the five-member bullion banks that make up the: HSBC, ICBC Standard Bank, JP Morgan, Scotiabank and UBS.