David Fuller's view Oh me of little faith. Perhaps I read and heard too much about Spain's bankrupt regions over the weekend, but on seeing precious metals weaken again this morning, albeit within the same narrow ranges that have confined prices recently, I decided to take my losses in gold, platinum and silver, rather than wait to see if my stops were hit. In sequence, my September silver was sold at $26.895 and $26.900 against my purchases at $27.445 and $27.740 on 10th and 5th July, respectively. My October platinum was sold at $1393.9 against purchases at $1482.6 and £1435.7 on 4th and 13th July, respectively. My expiring August gold was sold at $1570.2 against my purchase at $1635.2 on 6th June. These prices include all spread-bet dealing costs.

Prices reached their lows for the day around 1.30 GMT and staged another partial recovery. In the event, my stops would not have been triggered today, although it would have been close with platinum. I still think precious metals have considerably more medium-term upside scope than near-term downward risk. However, the hypothesis of support building near current levels has yet to be proven and deflationary pressures still weigh on a number of assets.