Asian-based asset management firm, Brentwood Group, believe that there is a disconnect between the price of physical gold and the paper variety traded on the COMEX futures exchange.
An individual familiar with traders at Brentwood Group suggested that anecdotal evidence indicates that many potential buyers of physical gold are encountering severe difficulty in acquiring supplies at bullion dealers. Alternative avenues including internet auctions are seeing gold fetch over $150.00 premium to the official spot price in some cases.
Rumors persist that manipulation of the futures market by central banks through proxies has maintained large short positions on the COMEX but the Brentwood Group source believes that as lease rates for gold are at or near highs, many short sellers in gold cannot afford to roll over their positions which may result in a sharp spike in the price in coming weeks.
Brentwood Group would not be drawn on the likely size of any spike in prices but a spokeswoman inferred that prices could rise very sharply.
