If You're Investing in Gold, Singapore Just Became More Important to You
Singapore recently made a huge step forward in establishing itself as one of the biggest players in the global market for investing in gold . The Asian city's government repealed a 7% tax on gold and silver effective Oct.1. Now investors can store their gold in Singapore without costly value-added taxes. Singapore hopes the move will help the region morph into a precious metals trading market like London and Zurich. "It seems a little unfair to put a sales tax on what is essentially money. The removal of the GST on gold will allow Singapore to better compete with Hong Kong and other bullion trading centers in the region," Nick Trevethan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore told Reuters . Singapore currently controls roughly 2% of global gold demand and aims to grow that share to some 10% to 15% over the next five to 10 years. The market expansion is expected to increase global demand for gold and silver bars and coins in the fourth quarter of 2012. An influx of precious metal traders to Singapore is also expected, with more commodity offices and bullion storage facilities to follow. Anticipating the opportunity, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM ) opened a precious metals vault in the city in 2010. "I think this is really going to change the landscape in Singapore," a gold dealer told Asia One Business . "A lot of companies will find the incentive to start operations in Singapore. This news is going to draw attention to Singapore as a safer place to park funds." To continue reading, please click here...
Singapore recently made a huge step forward in establishing itself as one of the biggest players in the global market for investing in gold.
The Asian city's government repealed a 7% tax on gold and silver effective Oct.1. Now investors can store their gold in Singapore without costly value-added taxes.
Singapore hopes the move will help the region morph into a precious metals trading market like London and Zurich.
"It seems a little unfair to put a sales tax on what is essentially money. The removal of the GST on gold will allow Singapore to better compete with Hong Kong and other bullion trading centers in the region," Nick Trevethan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore told Reuters.
Singapore currently controls roughly 2% of global gold demand and aims to grow that share to some 10% to 15% over the next five to 10 years.
The market expansion is expected to increase global demand for gold and silver bars and coins in the fourth quarter of 2012. An influx of precious metal traders to Singapore is also expected, with more commodity offices and bullion storage facilities to follow.
Anticipating the opportunity, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) opened a precious metals vault in the city in 2010.
"I think this is really going to change the landscape in Singapore," a gold dealer told Asia One Business. "A lot of companies will find the incentive to start operations in Singapore. This news is going to draw attention to Singapore as a safer place to park funds."
Editors Note: Interested in owning physical gold but feel like you don’t know enough? Check out this report.body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 div,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dl,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dt,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dd,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ol,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 li,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h4,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h5,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h6,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 pre,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 code,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 form,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 fieldset,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 legend,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 p,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 blockquote,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 td{margin:0;padding:0;line-height:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 table{border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 fieldset,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 img{border:0;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 address,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 caption,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 cite,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 code,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dfn,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 em,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 strong,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 var{font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 li{list-style:none;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 caption,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th{text-align:left;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h4,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h5,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h6{font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 q:before,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 q:after{content:'';}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 abbr,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 acronym{border:0;font-variant:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 sup{vertical-align:text-top;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 sub{vertical-align:text-bottom;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 select{font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 select{*font-size:100%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 legend{color:#000;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 del,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ins{text-decoration:none;} body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1{font-size:138.5%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2{font-size:123.1%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3{font-size:108%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3{margin:1em 0;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h4,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h5,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h6,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 strong{font-weight:bold;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 abbr,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 acronym{border-bottom:1px dotted #000;cursor:help;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 em{font-style:italic;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 del{text-decoration:line-through;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 blockquote,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul,ol,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dl{margin:1em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ol,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul,dl{margin-left:2em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ol li{list-style:decimal outside;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul li{list-style:disc outside;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dl dd{margin-left:1em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 td{border:1px solid #000;padding:.5em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th{font-weight:bold;text-align:center;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 caption{margin-bottom:.5em;text-align:center;}p,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 fieldset,table,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 pre{margin-bottom:1em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input[type=text],body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input[type=password],body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea{width:12.25em;*width:11.9em;} jPPUI('#pp-link-5073086d7ee32').data('options', {"ID":"70925","options":{"width":"480","height":"280","shadow":false,"background":"#ffffff","noTitle":true,"frameColor":"#aaaaaa","frameSize":0,"borderRadius":"0","closeOnEscape":false,"closeOnOuterClick":false,"closeBtnX":true,"affiliate":false,"modal":true,"overlay":true,"overlayColor":"#2f2727","overlayTransparency":50,"sticky":true,"webroot":"http:\/\/moneymorning.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/platinumpopup","draggable":false,"frameStyle":"solid","closeOnMouseLeave":false,"ID":"5073086d7ee32"},"title":"Gated Content Popups (one liners)","content":"<div id=\"ppopup-5073086d7ee32\" class=\"ppopup\"><div class=\"widget cfox_preload\"><div class=\"cfox_preload_widget\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>"});
Why Store Wealth in Singapore? Currently, Singapore imports gold bars from Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Japan. The bars are then sold to buyers scattered across Southeast Asia and India, home of the largest gold consumers in the world.
In addition, gold scraps from across the region are traded in Singapore. This exchange has a hand in helping to determine the premiums for gold bars against prices in London.
With the value-added tax now gone, Singapore is poised to pounce on the growing precious metal investment and trading trend, and claim a prominent place in the thriving industry.
The city's easy trading laws, strong dollar, robust locale, low personal and business taxes, no capital gains tax, and reputation as a secure shelter for the storage of wealth are all among Singapore's advantages.
And then there is Singapore's low crime rate and political stability.
"People feel safe storing there gold here," Gregor Gregersen, director of Singapore-based physical gold and silver supplier Silver Bullion Pte. Ltd, told The Wall Street Journal.
Investors have been waiting to invest in gold until after the tax break takes effect. Singapore's gold sales are expected to jump about 10% this month now that the tax has been cut.
"Within Asia, investors want to hold their gold in Singapore. China is riskier than Singapore, so Singapore should attract more demand," Cedric Chanu director of Asian precious metal trading for Deutsche Bank told The Journal.
Time for Investing in Gold Worldwide, economies have struggled and global central banks have responded by using record amounts of stimulus, drastically increasing money supplies.
This has led to waning dollar values and as a result, gold and silver have become hedges against reckless global monetary policies and have become a preferred holding as a store of assets and wealth.
"There has been a dramatic increase in customers wanting to move out of paper, that is over-the-counter gold, and into physical. We're seeing customers wanting to move their gold from Europe into Singapore," Chanu noted.
Since the start of the financial crisis in 2008, gold prices skyrocketed from just under $850 an ounce to a peak of $1,920 reached in September 2011. After a pullback, the yellow metal is currently moving back toward its all-time highs, trading around $1,770 an ounce.
Related Articles and News:
Tags: buying gold, current gold prices, Gold, Gold Prices, gold stocks, investing in gold, investing in gold stocks, investment in gold, price of gold, Singapore
Singapore hopes the move will help the region morph into a precious metals trading market like London and Zurich.
"It seems a little unfair to put a sales tax on what is essentially money. The removal of the GST on gold will allow Singapore to better compete with Hong Kong and other bullion trading centers in the region," Nick Trevethan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore told Reuters.
Singapore currently controls roughly 2% of global gold demand and aims to grow that share to some 10% to 15% over the next five to 10 years.
The market expansion is expected to increase global demand for gold and silver bars and coins in the fourth quarter of 2012. An influx of precious metal traders to Singapore is also expected, with more commodity offices and bullion storage facilities to follow.
Anticipating the opportunity, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) opened a precious metals vault in the city in 2010.
"I think this is really going to change the landscape in Singapore," a gold dealer told Asia One Business. "A lot of companies will find the incentive to start operations in Singapore. This news is going to draw attention to Singapore as a safer place to park funds."
Editors Note: Interested in owning physical gold but feel like you don’t know enough? Check out this report.body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 div,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dl,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dt,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dd,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ol,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 li,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h4,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h5,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h6,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 pre,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 code,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 form,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 fieldset,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 legend,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 p,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 blockquote,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 td{margin:0;padding:0;line-height:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 table{border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 fieldset,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 img{border:0;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 address,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 caption,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 cite,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 code,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dfn,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 em,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 strong,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 var{font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 li{list-style:none;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 caption,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th{text-align:left;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h4,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h5,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h6{font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 q:before,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 q:after{content:'';}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 abbr,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 acronym{border:0;font-variant:normal;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 sup{vertical-align:text-top;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 sub{vertical-align:text-bottom;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 select{font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 select{*font-size:100%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 legend{color:#000;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 del,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ins{text-decoration:none;} body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1{font-size:138.5%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2{font-size:123.1%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3{font-size:108%;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3{margin:1em 0;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h1,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h2,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h3,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h4,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h5,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 h6,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 strong{font-weight:bold;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 abbr,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 acronym{border-bottom:1px dotted #000;cursor:help;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 em{font-style:italic;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 del{text-decoration:line-through;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 blockquote,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul,ol,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dl{margin:1em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ol,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul,dl{margin-left:2em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ol li{list-style:decimal outside;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 ul li{list-style:disc outside;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 dl dd{margin-left:1em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 td{border:1px solid #000;padding:.5em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 th{font-weight:bold;text-align:center;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 caption{margin-bottom:.5em;text-align:center;}p,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 fieldset,table,body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 pre{margin-bottom:1em;}body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input[type=text],body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 input[type=password],body #pp-popup-5073086d7ee32 textarea{width:12.25em;*width:11.9em;} jPPUI('#pp-link-5073086d7ee32').data('options', {"ID":"70925","options":{"width":"480","height":"280","shadow":false,"background":"#ffffff","noTitle":true,"frameColor":"#aaaaaa","frameSize":0,"borderRadius":"0","closeOnEscape":false,"closeOnOuterClick":false,"closeBtnX":true,"affiliate":false,"modal":true,"overlay":true,"overlayColor":"#2f2727","overlayTransparency":50,"sticky":true,"webroot":"http:\/\/moneymorning.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/platinumpopup","draggable":false,"frameStyle":"solid","closeOnMouseLeave":false,"ID":"5073086d7ee32"},"title":"Gated Content Popups (one liners)","content":"<div id=\"ppopup-5073086d7ee32\" class=\"ppopup\"><div class=\"widget cfox_preload\"><div class=\"cfox_preload_widget\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>"});
Why Store Wealth in Singapore? Currently, Singapore imports gold bars from Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Japan. The bars are then sold to buyers scattered across Southeast Asia and India, home of the largest gold consumers in the world.
In addition, gold scraps from across the region are traded in Singapore. This exchange has a hand in helping to determine the premiums for gold bars against prices in London.
With the value-added tax now gone, Singapore is poised to pounce on the growing precious metal investment and trading trend, and claim a prominent place in the thriving industry.
The city's easy trading laws, strong dollar, robust locale, low personal and business taxes, no capital gains tax, and reputation as a secure shelter for the storage of wealth are all among Singapore's advantages.
And then there is Singapore's low crime rate and political stability.
"People feel safe storing there gold here," Gregor Gregersen, director of Singapore-based physical gold and silver supplier Silver Bullion Pte. Ltd, told The Wall Street Journal.
Investors have been waiting to invest in gold until after the tax break takes effect. Singapore's gold sales are expected to jump about 10% this month now that the tax has been cut.
"Within Asia, investors want to hold their gold in Singapore. China is riskier than Singapore, so Singapore should attract more demand," Cedric Chanu director of Asian precious metal trading for Deutsche Bank told The Journal.
Time for Investing in Gold Worldwide, economies have struggled and global central banks have responded by using record amounts of stimulus, drastically increasing money supplies.
This has led to waning dollar values and as a result, gold and silver have become hedges against reckless global monetary policies and have become a preferred holding as a store of assets and wealth.
"There has been a dramatic increase in customers wanting to move out of paper, that is over-the-counter gold, and into physical. We're seeing customers wanting to move their gold from Europe into Singapore," Chanu noted.
Since the start of the financial crisis in 2008, gold prices skyrocketed from just under $850 an ounce to a peak of $1,920 reached in September 2011. After a pullback, the yellow metal is currently moving back toward its all-time highs, trading around $1,770 an ounce.
Related Articles and News:
- Money Morning:
Gold Prices: Here's Why All the Hype Goes Beyond QE3 - Money Morning:
Investing in Gold: Why the Golden Cross is a Big Deal - Money Morning:
Investing in Gold After QE3 - Asia One Business:
Singapore seeks gold hub status with tax-free bullion - The Wall Street Journal:
Singapore Has Golden Ambitions - Value Walk:
Singapore Scraps Taxes on Gold & Silver
Tags: buying gold, current gold prices, Gold, Gold Prices, gold stocks, investing in gold, investing in gold stocks, investment in gold, price of gold, Singapore