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Gold has traded between $1,233 and $1,249 so far today…as of 7:30 am Pacific, bullion is up $3 an ounce at $1,241…Silver has also reversed from a slight earlier loss and is now 6 cents higher at $20.21 (see new Silver charts at the bottom of today’s Morning Musings)…Copper is off a penny at $3.32…Crude Oil, after falling nearly 5% last week, is relatively unchanged at $93.92 while the U.S. Dollar Index has retreated one-tenth of a point to 80.75…

Despite net Chinese Gold imports through Hong Kong falling below the 100-tonne level in November, Chinese net Gold imports for all of 2013 should easily exceed 1,100 tonnes…that is almost double the amount imported in 2012…according to figures from the Shanghai Gold Exchange, total 2013 Chinese Gold imports through Hong Kong and other routes may have been in excess of 2,000 tonnes…

China will hold its first state-supported Gold conference in Beijing in September of this year…the China Gold Conference and Exposition is being organized by the China Gold Association with support from the World Gold Council, the Shanghai Gold Exchange, and the Shanghai Futures Exchange…as Frank Holmes stated in his weekly Investor Alert (www.usfunds.com), “This could be a timely opportunity and a nice venue for China to make new announcements about Chinese Gold reserves and/or policy.  A substantial increase in China Gold reserves could have a dramatic effect on the Gold price.”

Turkey continues to import increasing amounts of Gold…the country’s bullion imports jumped 64% in December to 31.6 tonnes…the U.S. Mint started 2014 with strong sales of Gold coins…on January 2, there were 37,500 ounces of Gold coins sold, which is equal to 25% of all sales during January 2013…

Today’s Markets

Asia

Chinese shares sold off overnight following a weak services sector report…the Shanghai Composite finished down 37 points at 2046…meanwhile, profit-taking and a stronger yen contributed to a 382-point drop (2.4%) in Japan’s Nikkei average as it fell below 16,000 on its first trading day of the new year…the Nikkei ended 2013 with 9 straight winning sessions and a total 2013 rise of a whopping 57%…

Europe

European markets were generally slightly higher today…euro zone composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data showed that activity in the services and manufacturing sectors rose to 52.1 in December, up from 51.7 in the previous month…

North America

The Dow is up 29 points at 16499 as of 7:30 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is down for the third straight session (off 15 points) to begin 2014…meanwhile, the Venture – which has enjoyed 8 consecutive winning sessions – has added another 2 points to 947…

TSX Gold Index Updated Chart

Some bullish signs are appearing in the TSX Gold Index which has been basing in a 6-week horizontal channel…the biggest near-term challenge for the Index will be to work its way out of a long-term downtrend line, and just above that is a still-declining 200-day moving average (SMA) as you can see in John’s 18-month weekly chart below…so the Gold Index has some serious work to do…it’s ahead 2 points at 163 as of 7:30 am Pacific…

Updated CDNX 3-Year Weekly Chart

One of the most impressive features of the 3-year weekly Venture chart is the gradually rising RSI(14) trendline…what we’ll be watching for now is whether the RSI(14) can overcome resistance around the 50 level…

Strong accumulation continued in the final quarter of last year based on the Chaiken Money Flow (CMF) indicator…the Index finally broke above a long-term downtrend line in October which has become new support as evidenced since then…key resistance for the Venture to overcome, of course, is in the 970’s…for the first time since 2011, the Index is now trading slightly above its 200-day moving average (SMA)…much more significant would be a reversal to the upside in the 200-day which conceivably could occur later this quarter…

Big North Graphite Corp. (NRT, TSX-V)

Big North Graphite Corp. (NRT, TSX-V) made a big move following our eAlert last Tuesday morning, climbing by as much as 67% in just 3 trading sessions when it got as high as 10 cents intra-day Friday before finishing the week at 8.5 cents…NRT is currently producing amorphous graphite in Sonora State, Mexico, so they’re “walking the walk” as well as talking the talk…more interestingly, though, Big North recently announced a Letter of Intent to acquire a 100% interest in a private company that owns the past producing El Tejon flake graphite mine in southern Mexico (Oaxaca State)…this open-pit mine was operated up until 2002, first by the Mexican government for many years and then privately, before it was shut down due to low prices…if Big North can rekindle the flame at El Tejon, Mexico’s only past producing flake graphite mine, this play could really heat up…record volume in NRT last week – very bullish…

As John’s 2.5-year weekly chart shows, previous resistance at 6 cents is now new support…there’s also support at 7.5 cents…this is a strong-looking chart with many favorable aspects to it, so patient investors with a position below a dime have a chance to do extremely well…as always, perform your own due diligence…NRT traded as low as 7.5 cents in early trading but is now even for the day at 8.5 cents as of 7:30 am Pacific…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Updated Chart

Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) is up 60% since the beginning of December as it edges closer toward a major technical breakout…several fundamental factors (La Patilla drilling, Tonichi and Iris Projects, Grizzly Property) are converging to create the dynamics necessary for a push through critical resistance at 15 cents…with a strong management group, a healthy financial position and a basket of properties with serious exploration upside, GGI is a compelling opportunity at current levels…and a huge advantage for GGI is its tight share structure with no warrant “overhang” – no significant dilution in this stock for nearly 5 years, and some royalty income to boot…hardly any companies on the Venture can make the same claim…

John’s updated 3.5-year weekly chart shows a bullish flag formation and an RSI(14) breakout above a trendline…should be a positive week for GGI…as of 7:30 am Pacific, the stock is unchanged at 13.5 cents…

Magor Corp. (MCC, TSX-V) Update

Magor Corp. (MCC, TSX-V), a video collaboration company that started trading on the Venture last March after raising $6 million, has gained the most (28.4%) so far of any of the 20 opportunities we highlighted December 24…Magor does appear to be gaining some traction in terms of its business model after enjoying the best start to any quarter in the company’s history in terms of revenues in November…MCC’s Aerus cloud-based services are currently in service trials, and the success of that launch will obviously be critical…an experienced management team with a proven track record gives Magor a decent chance of becoming profitable later this year and building value for shareholders…technically, the stock is looking a lot healthier these days…the breakout above resistance at 40 cents is encouraging…the 50-cent level is the next major hurdle…volume and overall investor interest should accelerate on any confirmed move through 50 cents…as of 7:30 am Pacific, MCC is unchanged at 47.5 cents…

Silver Short-Term Chart

Silver Long-Term Chart

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI.  Jon also holds a share position in MCC.