* Gold climbs further on oil but resistance levels intact
* Oil firms above $119 on supply fears
* Investors await second-quarter U.S. GDP data
(Updates prices, adds Toyota sales forecast)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Gold rose as much as 1
percent on Thursday on safe-haven buying as oil continued its
ascent and on a sliding dollar, but it would have to crack key
resistance levels to sustain the uptrend.
"Gold is still capped by the big resistance at $837, and
above at $846. I don't think much would happen ahead of the
U.S. long holiday weekend," said Peter Tse, a dealer at Scotia
Mocatta in Hong Kong, referring to Monday's Labor Day holiday.
Physical buying ahead of the festive season in Asia has
helped gold rebound more than 7 percent since tumbling to
nine-month lows around $773 an ounce in mid-August.
Gold <XAU=> firmed to $832.60/833.60 an ounce from
$826.05/827.45 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday, having
hit an intraday high of $834.35 an ounce.
Oil rose for a fourth straight day to stay above $118 a
barrel on Thursday, on fears Tropical Storm Gustav may hit the
Gulf of Mexico after it morphs into a major hurricane,
paralysing the heart of U.S. offshore production. []
"Perhaps oil could lead gold higher here, and on the oil
side, I think Gustav is something we should watch. For the
dollar, we will probably have to focus on tonight's U.S. GDP
data for direction," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip
Futures in Singapore.
The euro edged up to $1.4781 <EUR=>, recovering from a
six-month low of $1.4570 hit on Tuesday, after comments by a
European Central Bank official the previous day scaled back
speculation about an ECB rate cut. []
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,436.00/1,456.00 an ounce
from $1,434.00/1,454.00 late in New York.
"Platinum seems to be edging higher, but I don't think we
are clearly out of the downside yet. If platinum can clear the
$1,450 level and perhaps make a move to the $1,500 level, then
that scenario may change a little," said Koh of Phillip
Futures.
Higher gold prices spurred speculative buying in platinum
but investors remained cautious after the metal sank to an
11-month low around $1,296 last week.
Automakers were also on the sidelines. A slowing U.S.
economy and poor car sales have sparked worries about falling
demand for autocatalysts, which account for more than 50
percent of global platinum use. The metal was well below a
lifetime high of $2,290 hit in early March.
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> said it would miss its goal of
selling more than 10 million vehicles next year, cutting its
forecast by nearly 7 percent due to a downturn in western
markets driven by high fuel prices and a credit crunch.
[]
Spot palladium <XPD=> inched up to $290.50/295.50 an ounce
from $288.50/296.50 an ounce. Silver <XAG=> firmed to
$13.61/13.67 an ounce from $13.49/13.55 an ounce late in New
York.
The new benchmark contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange,
August 2009 <JAUc6>, rose 9 yen per gram to 2,939 yen per gram.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $3.2 an ounce to
$837.20.
Precious metals prices at 0542 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 831.95 6.05 +0.73 -0.09
Spot Silver 13.59 0.16 +1.19 -7.99
Spot Platinum 1436.00 2.50 +0.17 -5.53
Spot Palladium 290.00 1.50 +0.52 -21.20
TOCOM Gold 2937.00 7.00 +0.24 -4.02
23683
TOCOM Platinum 5037.00 37.00 +0.74 -5.66
11747
TOCOM Silver 483.00 -2.60 -0.54 -10.72
796
TOCOM Palladium 1035.00 -13.00 -1.24 -23.39
559
Euro/Dollar 1.4781
Dollar/Yen 109.02
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)
