"the first person (On Kitco) may well have started the rumour" . . . . well yeah he MAY have started it, or even made it up from thin air, but he MAY also be a Comex dealer or the holder of the supposed 140,000 contracts or anything . . . we don't know, so we consider the implications.
How is it " abundantly clear that it was a false one even at the moment it was uttered" The only varifiable fact that surrounds this proposition is that there are currently 211,255 open contacts, so it IS possible that 140,000 of those are in a single hand (may not be probable, but it IS possible).
"If anyone wanted 400 tonnes of gold then the IMF could have supplied that at at a discount to the market" . . . . As well as the IMF, any number of sovereign banks COULD supply it, but it's not a question of could, but of would and besides, surely the object of such an exercise (if it indeed exists) would be to drive up the POG by forcing the seller(shorters) to enter the spot market to cover resulting in the holder making mega profits on a highly leverage play. The notion of getting "a discount to the market" & the deal "never see the market" would be the exact opposite of the intent of the exercise ie to make money by moving the POG . . . . as you say MANIPULATION
As to "The market never got excited about that rumour anyway" . . . well it may or may not be a co-incidence, but the POG dropped more than US$6 at one point last night. If one were a believer in conspiracy theories regarding market manipulation, one might see this as the shorts desparately trying to force the large long to cover and thus save their skins & reinforce their control
Personally I don't know whether it's true, partially true or just downright BS, but as a general principle I would rather have the opportunity to be exposed to every bit of information in the marketplace than rely solely on verified fact. After all, that is the only place where we can gain an "edge" (make money) ie once something is fact the market has already priced it in
