PRECIOUS-Gold strikes record on inflation, economic worries

                                
 * Cash gold, futures hit record above $1,160 an ounce
                                
 * SPDR Gold holdings unchanged at 1,117.493 tonnes
                                
 By Lewa Pardomuan
                                
 SINGAPORE, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Gold defied a rebound in the
dollar on Monday and powered to a record on safe-haven buying,
driven by growing worries about inflation and a drop in U.S.
stocks that stirred doubt about the economic outlook.
                                
 Bullion, which has gained around 32 percent so far in 2009,
struck a succession of lifetime highs in November as sentiment
turned extremely bullish after India acquired 200 tonnes of the
precious metal from the International Monetary Fund.
                                
 Gold <XAU=> was quoted at $1,161.25 an ounce by 0202 GMT,
up $13.05 an ounce from New York's notional close on Friday. It
hit another record at $1,161.80 in a thin trade also driven by
technical buying after bullion surpassed previous record.
                                
 "We're in unchartered territory. It's going to move fairly
freely. Momentum becomes quite a big driver of prices. You
could see the hint of safe haven buying returning," said Mark
Pervan, ANZ's senior commodities analyst.
                                
 "There is increasing expectation that the market could
deleverage risk towards the end of the year. There's a view
that we could see some selling in equity markets, that lowering
a risk would also benefit gold prices."
                                
 U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> added $14.4
an ounce to $1,161.20 on the COMEX division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange, having struck a record at $1,162.50.
                                
 The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,117.493 tonnes
as of Nov 20, unchanged from the previous business day.
[GOL/SPDR]     Trading was thin in Asia, with Japanese
speculators away for a holiday.
                                
 The  dollar inched higher on Monday, extending a
short-covering bounce as investors pared risk trades in a
holiday-thinned week, while oil <CLc1> rose toward $78 a barrel
on heightened tensions between Iran and Western nations. [USD/]
[O/R]
                                
 In theory, a firmer dollar makes dollar-priced gold more
expensive for holders of other currencies, but on the other
hand, strong oil prices raise the metal's safe-haven appeal
against inflation.
                                
 "You've got more high-profile hedge funds visibly investing
in gold. That's yet another factor encouraging moves into gold
by the wider investor community," said David Barclay, commodity
strategist at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong.
                                
 Option traders are betting that gold will hit $1,200 an
ounce or higher by early next year, and strong options interest
could in turn lift underlying prices further into the uncharted
territory. [ID:nN20515060]
                                
 U.S. stocks fell for a third straight day on Friday as
investors took weaker-than-expected results from computer maker
Dell <DELL.O> and homebuilder D.R. Horton <DHI.N> as a further
sign the recovery would be anemic. [.N]
 PRICES
 Precious metals prices at 0202 GMT
 Metal         Last      Change  Pct chg  Day ago pct  MA 30
RSI  Spot gold    $1161.25   $13.05  +1.14%   +29.46%   $860.10
  77
 Spot silver    $18.69    $0.23  +1.25%   +56.01%     $11.29 
64
 Spot plat    $1454.00   $13.00  +0.90%    +0.66%   $1372.13 
67
 COMEX gold   $1161.60   $14.80  +1.29%    +1.73%   $1086.16 
77
 Currencies                                               
Euro/dlr       $1.491  -$0.007  -0.43%    -0.15%
 Dlr/yen         88.91    -0.20  -0.22%    -0.77%
 (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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