* Gold weighed down by resurgence in investor confidence
* Dollar weakness supports, limits fall in gold
* SPDR Gold Trust <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> holdings unchanged
By Chikako Mogi
TOKYO, May 11 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Monday, weighed
down by a recovery in investor confidence, but losses were
limited by the dollar's decline to a four-month low.
The dollar index extended losses on Monday as investors,
emboldened by a smaller-than-expected fall in U.S. jobs,
diversified into other currencies. []
Gold and the dollar often move in opposite directions.
Asian stocks outside Japan rose in tandem with Friday's
Wall Street gains after figures showed U.S. employers cut
539,000 jobs last month, the fewest since October, reinforcing
expectations that the global economy, while still weak, may
have hit bottom. []
"Gold's probably getting a slow start in the morning. The
strong rise in the equity markets has sort of placed a dampener
on safe-havens such as gold and marginally positive equity
markets this morning have sort of edged gold a little lower,"
said Adrian Koh at Phillip Futures.
"However, the dollar weakness will be key now. The sharp
decline in the dollar on Friday has supported gold a bit given
that the safe-haven play has somewhat diminished," he said.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $913.60 an ounce, down 0.3 percent
from New York's notional close of $916.05 on Friday.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCM9> were barely
changed after settling at $914.90 on Friday on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
With key events as U.S. jobs data and the U.S. government's
banks stress tests out of the way, investors are cautiously
taking risks, traders said.
Adding to the emerging optimism about the global economy,
the U.S. economy is expected to begin growing in the second
half of this year, while the jobless rate is expected to peak
in the first quarter of 2010, according to a survey of top
forecasters released on Sunday. []
China's central bank deputy governor Su Ning also said on
Monday that the Chinese government's economic stimulus measures
are having a clear effect in the first half of the year, and
the situation has exceeded expectations. []
But for the time being, traders said gold prices looked set
to hover near $920, a key resistance level for most of last
month, before resuming their climb higher.
Reflecting a shift in investment away from safe-haven
assets such as gold, holdings at the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust
<XAUEXT-NYS-TT>, stayed unchanged at 1,104.09 tonnes on May 8.
[]
Global commodities exchange-traded fund manager ETF
Securities said on Monday that gold prices were too high to
encourage buying from the key jewellery sector. []
Precious metals prices at 0300 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 913.20 -2.85 -0.31 3.76
Spot Silver 13.94 -0.04 -0.29 23.14
Spot Platinum 1137.00 -8.50 -0.74 22.00
Spot Palladium 241.50 3.00 +1.26 30.89
TOCOM Gold 2902.00 -28.00 -0.96 12.79
16388
TOCOM Platinum 3615.00 -81.00 -2.19 36.31
5006
TOCOM Silver 438.00 -5.50 -1.24 37.18
177
TOCOM Palladium 777.00 14.00 +1.83 41.27
527
Euro/Dollar 1.3652
Dollar/Yen 98.32
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
