* Gold holding above $930; dollar steadies after Fed meeting
* Fed statement hints at no hurry to raise rates
By Nick Vinocur
London, June 25 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Thursday, heading
toward $935 per ounce as investors found support from the U.S.
Federal Reserve indicating that it was in no hurry to raise
borrowing costs from ultra-low levels.
Spot gold <XAU=> stood at $932.80 per ounce at 1102 GMT, up
from $931.10 quoted late in New York on Wednesday. The metal
briefly hit a high of $936.30 in Asian trade.
The precious metal has managed to move some way off Monday's
low of $912.90, garnering support above $930 per ounce, as
long-term expectations about the pace and extent of economic
recovery were left mostly unchanged in the wake of the Fed
remarks.
Its statement, released late on Wednesday, painted a
cautiously favourable picture of the U.S. economy but offered no
hint of changes to programme of quantitative easing.
[]
Low U.S. interest rates are seen as bearish for the dollar
from a yield perspective, raising the appeal of
dollar-denominated gold for non-U.S. investors.
"The fact that going forward (the Fed) is keeping rates as
they are and sticking with quantitative easing is supportive for
gold," said James Moore, an analyst at the TheBullionDesk.com.
"But physical demand is still very slow and there are still
quite a lot of speculative longs in the market and we are in a
position where we need to flush some of those out," he added.
DATA EYED
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> slipped
slightly to $933.50 an ounce.
Final first quarter U.S. GDP data and weekly jobless claims,
both due out at 1230 GMT, would also be in focus, analysts said.
The GDP data is expected to confirm that the U.S. economy
contracted 5.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
Earlier on Thursday the head of the economic department of
the Communist Party policy research office in China said that
the country should buy more gold, and that purchasing land in
the United States was a better option for China than buying U.S.
Treasuries. []
"The market is already pricing in Chinese demand," said
Jesper Dannesboe, analyst at Societe Generale.
Underlining a lack of aggressive buying, holdings by the
world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold
Trust <GLD>, remained at 1,131.24 tonnes on Wednesday, unchanged
since Monday. []
In other precious metals, spot silver <XAG=> firmed slightly
to $13.88, against $13.83 quoted late in New York on Wednesday,
while platinum <XPT=> was at $1,175.00, against $1,156.00 and
palladium <XPD=> was slightly stronger $235.00.
(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda in Tokyo; editing by
Veronica Brown)
