VOA慢速英语2015 亚洲交易市场金价创五年最低

Gold Prices Fall to Five-Year Low in Asia Trading 亚洲交易市场金价创五年最低

The price of gold fell to its lowest level in five years in trading early Monday. For a time, gold was selling at less than 1,100 dollars an ounce on Asian markets.

Some traders are calling the price drop a “mini flash crash.” Thirty billion dollars in short selling took place within half an hour during what are known as “stop-loss” selloffs. Traders executed sell orders when gold prices reached targets set by investors².

Luke Chua is sales and operations manager at Bullion³ Star, a Singapore business that sells gold and other precious metals.

“In the physical market, this would not be possible because that would consume a whole lot of physical gold. But in the futures⁴ market, because it’s all digital as long as you find a buyer to bid for it, then that would be possible.”

The short selling reportedly began at the Singapore Gold Exchange. Gold trading also quickly increased on China’s Shanghai exchange. Financial news agencies reported on the sales in Shanghai.

A desire to sell gold appeared to have been worsened by thinking that concerns about the Greek economy have somewhat eased. There also appeared to be an easing of investors’ concerns about the Chinese stock markets.

Some observers were wondering about China’s possible involvement in the short-selling of gold Monday. China is the world’s largest producer of gold. On Friday, the country said its supplies had increased by 59 percent to 1,658 tons as of the end of June.

Trader Luke Chua in Singapore says that should have driven up the price.

“But that’s not what we’re seeing in the market these few days. And the reason for that is because, currently, the price levels that we’re seeing in the market, is heavily driven by the futures market and not the physical market.”

Some observers note China’s increase in gold reserves was smaller than expected. But they admit that does not fully⁵ explain the intense speculative⁶ trading early Monday morning.

Gold prices are now six percent lower compared to prices one year ago.

Metals traders say they expect gold prices to remain around the current level. They also could move still lower because of possible action by the United States Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank is expected to increase interest rates later this year. That would lead many investors to take their money out of gold and other metals and to buy U.S. government bonds instead.

Words in This Story

flash – adj. relating to something that appears, moves or passes very quickly

short selling –n. a kind of trade in which an investor¹ makes a profit by selling an asset at a higher price and buying it back at a lower price

precious – adj. worth a lot of money; valuable

consume – adj. to use; to destroy something with fire

digital – adj. relating to computer technology

reserves – n. supplies of something

1 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 bullion   

n.金条，银条

参考例句：

• In the London bullion market yesterday,the price of gold was steady.昨天伦敦金银市场黄金价格稳定。
• Police have launched a man-hunt for the bullion robbers.警方已大举搜捕抢劫金条的罪犯。

4 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。