2011年11月26日星期六

撈底王一李和聲,大爆金融秘史,

今期壹週專訪

財經人物


金融元老李和聲,白手興家,見證香港金融界成長、起跌,以及富豪不為人知的發跡路,儼如一本金融活字典。四年前退休,最新身份是中文大學和聲書院創辦人,一圓少時「大學夢」。

股市風大雨大,動輒千點上落,人人怕股災重臨。 八十四歲的李和聲,大唐金融(1160)主席,中文大學和聲書院創辦人。入行七十年,親歷四次股災,試過差點傾家蕩產,也曾未卜先知,逃過一劫。眼前的風浪,一語戳破,大戶做世界,散戶不想任魚肉,可棄股投金。 上海出生,李和聲十四歲入金行做學徒,十九歲自立門戶。解放後來港,由出市代表搖身一變,成為順隆證券老闆,是首屈一指的富豪御用經紀、股壇打手,客仔包括首富李嘉誠、六叔邵逸夫、南豐陳廷驊及已故船王趙從衍等。 一生游走金、股、富豪之間,見盡起落興衰,老來仍火力十足的李和聲,道出一段段鮮為人知的金融秘史,從上海幫與廣東幫連場金戰,到富豪發股災財等,幕幕精彩。

金戰
如今,樓、股皆尋底,李和聲睇好黃金,近日金價跌穿一千七百美元,「歐美遲早唔掂,好多國家一有錢就買黃金!上二千元好閒,唔會跌低過千五,可以炒波幅。」炒金出身的李和聲,十九歲已在上海開設金行「生大永」,賺得第一桶金。這時,遇上解放,被共產黨劃為「老闆級」,公司沒了,換來半年牢獄之災,出獄後由朋友介紹來香港順隆銀號打工。「老闆叫陳亦農,曾管理南京中央金庫,偷咗好多黃金出來。」李和聲來港時,上海幫與廣東幫的黃金大戰打得如火如荼。這場金戰對香港金融業影響甚深,但記載卻離奇地少,只知上海幫大敗,而廣東幫銀號,包括恒生、永亨及廣安等,後來都飛黃騰達,成為舉足輕重的本地銀行,而廣東幫之首,正是有「炒金權威」之稱的恒生創辦人何善衡。


金戰起源要由上海說起。「二戰後,上海通貨膨脹好犀利,貨幣好亂,由軍票、儲備券、關金券、老法幣,再到金元幣,所以上海人鍾意揸黃金。」上海幫來港後在市場狂掃黃金,廣東幫就由倫敦等地買金來港,沽予上海幫。「四八年香港唔俾黃金入口,好多黃金先運去澳門,再走私來香港。」當時國際黃金每盎司35美元(下同),「上海幫一路買上去,37、38、40、42、45……需求太大,金商交唔切金俾我哋。」沒有實金交收,就要給利息,上海幫狂加息。「最後廣東幫交唔到貨要賠差價,但俾唔起。」這時,金銀業貿易場理事長拍板「折價」。「由45折到36,一刀切!上海幫見財化水。」 根據金銀貿易場的資料,由於炒賣極盛,貿易場曾於四九年兩度停市折價,當年的理事長,正是廣東幫指揮官何善衡。李和聲形容上海幫是「盲頭烏蠅」,沒有吸取教訓,韓戰時再次掃金,廣東幫乘勢猛沽,爆發第二輪金戰。「金價再炒上40、42,但戰後又急跌,上海幫兩鋪輸清光。」

富豪打手
金戰年代,李和聲只是上海幫內一個做黃金買賣的從業員,卻因此結識不少城中赫赫有名的富豪,如船王趙從衍、董浩雲等,「嗰時陳廷驊都未發跡。」趙從衍兒子趙世曾出名風流,原來其父親當年也迷倒不少女仔。「佢好鍾意唱京劇,一星期唱三次,長得高大有型,都好風流㗎。」何東爵士次子何世儉,更是李的伯樂兼恩人。五六年,李和聲頂手順隆做老闆,孭起前老闆欠下的債務,何世儉無條件借錢予李。「佢喺上海已經係我哋客仔,鍾意儲黃金,佢唔想做股東,但信我,覺得我哋為上海幫爭氣!」


李和聲幫富豪客仔「搵唔少錢」,最經典是包玉剛收購九倉一役,李在收購前為客仔密密掃貨,再轉售予包玉剛,「嗰次,我幫高福全(第一代澳門賭王高可寧 兒子)賺咗九千萬。七二年,邱德根將遠東上市,股價由$3(港幣)炒上$35.8,都係上海幫捧佢!」除上海幫外,還有首富李嘉誠,六十年代金融淡靜,李和聲轉行做膠花,與李做行家。「我哋公司喺土瓜灣,李生喺北角,做膠花出口,其他人淨係識做塑膠花,李生夠膽創新,搵我哋為膠花加工絨面。」五、六年後,李和聲重投股壇,李嘉誠成為順隆的長期客戶,一直幫襯到九七金融風暴前。

全文:
http://kornhill.dyndns.org/next/magdetails.php?book=4&issue=1133&page=031655243

Currency Wars - Russia Officially Adds 19.5 Tonnes of Gold Reserves in October Alone

From GoldCore
Currency Wars - Russia Officially Adds 19.5 Tonnes of Gold Reserves in October Alone
Gold is trading at USD 1,680.50, EUR 1,268.60, GBP 1,084.30, CHF 1,554.30, JPY 130,130 and RUB 53,210 per ounce.
Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,676.00, GBP 1,084.02, and EUR 1,263.86 per ounce.
Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,699.00, GBP 1,094.72, and EUR 1,270.38 per ounce.

Gold is marginally lower in all currencies today. A myriad of financial and economic risks are supporting the yellow metal at these levels.
Market participants continue to be surprised by gold’s continuing weakness and some are even questioning gold’s safe haven status. However, the fundamentals of broad based global physical demand remain very sound as evidenced by the central bank gold buying data today.
Russia bought 19.5 metric tons of gold in October bringing their total gold reserves to 871.1 tons according to IMF data released today.
Belarus increased holdings by 1 ton, Colombia by 1.2 tons, Kazakhstan by 3.2 tons and Mexico by 0.9 ton, the data show. Germany reduced reserves by 4.7 tons and Tajikistan cut reserves by 0.4 ton, the data show.
Thus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Belarus and Mexico added a combined 25.7 metric tons of gold  to reserves in October, after gold prices corrected from record highs.

Cross Currency Rates including Russian Ruble
While 25.7 tonnes is a lot of physical gold in tonnage term (given very small size of the global physical bullion market) , it is very small in fiat currency terms as at current market prices (gold averaged $1,671.25 last month according to Bloomberg) its value is a meager $1.38 billion.
Thus, Russia’s purchase of 19.5 tonnes is valued at a tiny $1.05 billion.
Bloomberg reports that Kazakhstan’s assets increased 3.2 tons to 73.6 tons, Colombia’s gained 1.2 tons to 10.4 tons, Belarus expanded assets by 1 ton to 31.9 tons and Mexico added 0.9 ton to take holdings to 106.3 tons, the data show. Germany cut reserves by 4.7 tons to mint commemorative coins and Tajikistan cut 0.4 ton of gold.
Germany’s gold reserves are at 3,396.3 tons, the IMF data show. The country is the second-biggest holder after the U.S., according to the World Gold Council. A Bundesbank spokesman confirmed the sale German gold and said it was done to mint commemorative coins, which is the only reason it sold bullion during the past few years.
Central banks are expanding reserves for the first time in a generation due to unprecedented monetary and systemic risk.
Purchases may reach 450 tons this year, according to the World Gold Council. Central banks and government institutions officially bought 142 tons last year, IMF data shows.
Astute analysts continue to point out that this is just the officially declared purchases and many central banks and especially the Peoples Bank of China continue to quietly accumulate gold reserves.
Emerging market and or creditor nation central banks have long been diversifying out of U.S. dollars. Now they are equally concerned about the euro and other fiat currencies such as the yen and pound.

Gold in Euros – 1 Year (Daily)
These central banks, including China and Russia, hold huge U.S. dollar and other fx reserves. Even a small shift to gold will have a major effect on its price.
Despite the increase in central bank gold reserves, their central banks still only hold some 5% of their reserves in gold.
This percentage will likely increase significantly in the coming months as they continue to diversify their currency reserves.
Even a small portfolio reserve allocation into gold would create a very large increase in demand for gold.
The Russian government is aggressively adding gold bullion to its gold and foreign currency reserves and their gold buying appears to be accelerating.
This trend may continue to accelerate given the increasing tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Syria, the Middle East. Missile defence in Europe and other geopolitical and economic disagreements.
Yesterday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to target and, if necessary, destroy the U.S. missile defence shield in Europe once it is built (see video below).
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently accused the United States of living beyond its means "like a parasite" on the global economy and said dollar dominance is a threat to the financial markets.
Medvedev and Putin knows that a prerequisite for strong economy and powerful country is a strong and internationally respected currency and increasing gold reserves helps to protect the Russian currency from any possible economic turbulence or instability.
In 2007, the Head of External Reserves in the management division of Russia's Central Bank, Maria Gueguina argued that holding gold acts as a buffer against political and economic uncertainty.
In June 2004, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Central Bank, Oleg Mozhaiskov, told a meeting of the London Bullion Market Association in Moscow that western central banks had been rigging the gold market to the detriment of the developing world.
Mozhaiskov said that "although there are only a few reserve currencies, an appalling lack of discipline is demonstrated by the U.S. dollar. As things stand today, the United States is indebted to the external world to the tune of $3 trillion. This sum actually exceeds the total official currency reserves of all the nations of the world -- including the USA. . . The evolution of the reserve role of the American currency in recent years gives grounds for a pretty pessimistic prognosis. The relationship between the state of the dollar and the value of gold is obvious. In relation to our discussion today, this means that gold continues to have particular monetary attraction in the minds of all prudent financial investors. . . .
The internal imperfections of the international monetary system (which I spoke about earlier) have already led to a number of regional financial crises and still carry the danger of larger upheavals. Under these conditions, the growing interest of investors in real assets, gold in particular, is more than justified."
Might Russia and China use gold in order to undermine U.S. political and economic dominance?
There is certainly the possibility that they may use gold as a geopolitical weapon against the U.S. and as a way of furthering their growing global political and economic aspirations.
Putin's endorsement in 2005 of the Russian Central Bank's plans to diversify the Russian reserves out of fiat currencies and debt instruments and into gold bullion was seen by some as as much a political act as an economic one.

Putin's overt and PR like choreographed endorsement of gold was replete with many interesting and highly unusual photos.
It was the first time in recent years that a head of state of one of the larger and more powerful G8 global players has expressly endorsed its central bank buying gold and probably the first time that a head of state has been photographed many times holding and admiring gold bullion bars.
Importantly, it was central bank buying that broke the back of the anti-gold cartel or the London Gold Pool in the late 1960s early 1970s. This paved the way for the massive bull market of the 1970s.
Putin's calculated gesture may have been the most important statement on gold by a head of state since French President de Gaulle praised gold as the ultimate from of money and wealth: "There can be no other criterion, no other standard than gold. Yes, gold which never changes, which can be shaped into ingots, bars, coins, which has no nationality and which is eternally and universally accepted as the unalterable fiduciary value par excellence."
Some have posited that Putin may have been sending a "shot across the bows" of the U.S. government as De Gaulle was doing some 35 years ago. Putin and many in Russia are increasingly nervous and wary of Washington's increasing military and economic presence in what they have always considered their backyard - Eastern Europe, Eurasia and the Caspian.
Russia, like China and other 'strategic competitors' to the U.S. are aware of the predicament which the U.S. finds itself in. While it is the world's remaining superpower and overwhelmingly superior to all its rivals in military terms, it has a dangerously exposed Achilles' heel in the form of its fiat paper reserve currency, over dependence on Middle Eastern oil, its massive indebtedness and balance of payments issues.
Russia, like China, is now one of the U.S.' creditors and thus has considerable leverage which it has so far chosen not to exercise. Should it do so there would obviously be a marked increase in geopolitical tension and the potential to create real instability in capital markets and even an international monetary crisis.
Given continuing currency debasement by the US and other debtor nations, the simmering currency wars of recent months may soon heat up. 

Venezuela Gets First Shipment Of Physical Gold Today

 收返來重要驗下係未真野先.......




Venezuela brings home gold reserves

Cheering crowds line streets as first batch of bullion, previously held in UK, is deposited in central bank in Caracas.

Last Modified: 26 Nov 2011 08:28



Up to 160 tonnes of gold, worth more than $11bn, is expected to be repartriated back to Venezuela [Reuters]


A shipment of gold has been deposited in Venezuela's central bank in Caracas after President Hugo Chavez ordered the repatriation of most of the country's bullion reserves from overseas banks.

Cheering crowds lined the streets on Friday as the shipment was escorted by armoured trucks to the bank from the Venezuelan capital's Maiquetia airport, beginning a process that will eventually see up to 160 tonnes of gold, worth more than $11bn, brought home.

Chavez ordered the repatriation of 85 per cent of the country's bullion, which has mostly been held in European and US banks, saying the move would protect Venezuela's reserves from global economic turbulence.




"Here it's going to be safe

- Nelson Merentes, Central Bank president, Venezuela
"It's coming to the place it never should have left. ... The vaults of the central bank of Venezuela, not the bank of London or the bank of the United States. It's our gold," Chavez said on national television.

Nelson Merentes, the president of the central bank, said the gold had come from the UK but did not say how much was in the first shipment, citing security concerns.

'It's a guarantee'

The gold had been held abroad since the late 1980s as backing for loans requested from the International Monetary Fund by prior governments, he said.

Merentes called the repatriation of the gold a "guarantee" for the country.

"If there's some problem in the international markets, here it's going to be safe," he said.

Chavez's opponents have called the plan costly and ill-advised, while some suggested Chavez was acting out of fear that Venezuela's overseas assets could one day be frozen by sanctions, as happened to those of his ally, the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.