* Gold up more than $7 after brief Weds dip below $800
* Indian, Mideast physical buyers seen stepping in
* Platinum drops 4 pct on demand fears
(Updates prices, adds comments on physical market)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Gold firmed on Thursday as
bargain hunting and physical buying countered volatile oil
prices and recent gains in the U.S. dollar, helping to boost
the bullion after a brief dip to near its lowest in nine
months.
Platinum fell more than 4 percent to its weakest in two
weeks, hit by concernover demand for autocatalysts after
automakers reported a 10thconsecutive month of U.S. sales
declines and talk that some automakers sold back inventories.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $807.20/808.20 an ounce from
$800.05/801.65 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday, when it
extended consecutive losses to a fourth day. It is still well
below the lifetime high of $1,030.80 struck in March.
Dealers saw purchases from jewellers in Indonesia ahead of
the Eid al-Fitri Muslim holidays in October and safe-haven
buying from Thailand, where Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej
refused to quit as his opponents vowed to keep up a street
campaign to unseat him. []
"We are still seeing physical demand from Thailand and
Indonesia, with prevailing premium for bars at $1.50 an ounce,"
said a physical dealer in Singapore. "The market is still short
of physical gold at moment," he said.
Gold fell as low as $789.05 an ounce on Wednesday, its
weakest in two weeks and near its nine-month low of around $773
hit in mid-August. But demand from India, the world's largest
consumer, and also the Middle East helped to stem the fall.
"It looks like we are getting some kind of recovery. One
might say around $790 is going to provide support on the
downside. I think we need to break that to see a stronger move
lower," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
"At $790-$800, physical buying seems to be coming in. We've
got immediate resistance coming in around $809 and probably
onwards to target something like $815," he said.
India is stepping up purchases during the festive season,
which peaks in October with Diwali, the Hindu festival of
lights.
Oil <CLc1> barely changed near $109 a barrel []. The
dollar was steady against the euro ahead of an interest rate
decision by the European Central Bank. []
Spot platinum <XPT=> hit an intraday low of $1,318 an
ounce, down from $1,377.50/1,397.50 late in New York on
Wednesday and was well below a record high of $2,290 an ounce
struck in March.
The benchmark contract on Tokyo platinum futures, August
2009 <JPLc6>, as rumours circulated in the market that
automakers were selling back their platinum stocks due to poor
sales.
"If demand for cars is not good because of a slowdown in
the global economy, automakers may be required to cut their
stocks," said a dealer in Hong Kong. "We also see some long
liquidation in the market."
U.S. auto sales fell 15.5 percent to 1.25 million units or
to a seasonally adjusted, annualised rate of 13.72 million
units in August, marking the 10th straight month of declining
sales in the U.S. auto market -- the longest such downturn
since the 2001 recession. []
Autocatalysts, used to clean exhaust fumes, account for
more than half of global platinum use.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $4.4 an ounce to $812.6
an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0717 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 807.60 7.35 +0.92 -3.01
Spot Silver 12.96 0.08 +0.62 -12.25
Spot Platinum 1367.00 -9.50 -0.69 -10.07
Spot Palladium 283.00 -2.50 -0.88 -23.10
TOCOM Gold 2823.00 38.00 +1.36 -7.75
35242
TOCOM Platinum 4708.00 -14.00 -0.30 -11.82
34231
TOCOM Silver 453.80 12.30 +2.79 -16.12
1224
TOCOM Palladium 1014.00 2.00 +0.20 -24.94
819
Euro/Dollar 1.4521
Dollar/Yen 108.08
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Sambit Mohanty)
