* Gold hits 1-week high on rising euro versus dollar
* Nikkei up on hopes over economic proposals
* Oil up to above $44 a barrel
* Investors await U.S. weekly jobless claims
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Gold bounced from lows to hit
a 1-week high on Thursday, a day after posting its biggest
daily percentage gain in almost three weeks, as the euro firmed
against the dollar and oil advanced on the prospects of output
cuts.
Investors' appetite for risky assets was somewhat restored
after bullion regained $800 for the first time since early
December on firm U.S. equities, rising oil and broad-based
commodity gains, dealers said.
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $813.40 an ounce, up $3.50 from
New York's notional close on Wednesday, when it rose more than
4 percent, its biggest daily percentage gain since Nov. 21.
Gold was 19 percent above a 13-month low around $680 hit in
October.
"There's firmness of the euro against the dollar and oil is
also a bit higher. That's why gold is up," said Ellison Chu,
manager of precious metals at Standard Bank Asia in Hong Kong.
But jewellery makers were on the sidelines after prices
rebounded and physical trading had also slowed as the end of
the year approached, Chu said.
"There's no buying at this level. Nothing."
Gold had hit an intraday low of $801.60 on Thursday before
the equity markets reversed losses and helped push up prices to
as high as $815.45 -- its strongest since Dec. 1.
Oil <CLc1> rose further to around $44 a barrel on signs
that Saudi Arabia had slashed supplies substantially to major
customers for January ahead of an OPEC meeting next week that
is expected to agree to more output cuts. []
On Wednesday, the Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index <.CRB>, a
global commodities benchmark, rose around 3 percent, after
having settled down almost 2 percent on Tuesday.
"We've obviously seen the commodities rally again, a
generic rally. Gold is probably the most attractive of the
current commodities from an investor's standpoint," said Darren
Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
"Given that we are having relative stability in the stock
markets, I would suggest it's certainly underpinned. With the
possibility of production cuts in oil, we've got potentially
more reasons to be buying gold," he said.
Gold could find support around the 10-day moving average
around $782, said dealers, with resistance seen at around $822
-- an intraday high hit in late November.
Fears of rising energy costs helped propel gold to a record
of $1,030.80 in March before it slipped after oil changed
course, and recently due to a sell-off in equities, which
forced investors to sell bullion to cover margin calls.
Some investors maybe careful about taking large positions
ahead of the release of U.S. weekly jobless claims later in the
day, which could erase gains in oil and stock markets if it
unveils bad numbers.
The Nikkei <> rose 0.7 percent on Thursday on hopes
that global stimulus measures would prop up the economy, offset
a stronger yen as well as worries whether a U.S. auto bailout
would be passed by the Senate. []
The euro rose as high as $1.3115 <EUR=>, a one-month high.
Platinum <XPT=> traded at $829.00 an ounce, up $7.00 from
New York notional close but it failed to sustain early gains to
$830 due to uncertainty over U.S. auto bailout package.
New York gold futures <GCZ9> added $5.7 an ounce to $814.5
in electronic trade.
Precious metals prices at 0720 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 813.40 3.50 +0.43 -2.32
Spot Silver 10.27 0.06 +0.59 -30.47
Spot Platinum 829.00 7.00 +0.85 -45.46
Spot Palladium 178.50 1.00 +0.56 -51.49
TOCOM Gold 2416.00 98.00 +4.23 -21.05
61602
TOCOM Platinum 2492.00 65.00 +2.68 -53.32
13656
TOCOM Silver 303.10 8.80 +2.99 -43.97
419
TOCOM Palladium 550.00 11.00 +2.04 -59.29
467
Euro/Dollar 1.3125
Dollar/Yen 92.54
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
