* Gold firms to highest in nearly a week
* Sterling-priced bullion strikes record
* Euro firms versus dollar, sterling hits 9-month low
(Updates prices, adds gold priced in euro)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a 1-week high
on Monday on bargain hunting driven by a firmer euro, while
sterling-priced bullion struck another record as the British
currency tumbled against the U.S. dollar.
Silver, also used in photography and electronics, jumped to
its strongest in almost a month to track gold and the price of
copper, which surged on worries about supply after an
8.8-magnitude quake hit top producer Chile.
Spot gold <XAU=> hit an intraday high of $1,119.50 an ounce
and stood at $1,117.00 by 0636 GMT, up 80 cents from New York's
notional close on Friday. Bullion was 7 percent below a
lifetime high around $1,200 hit in early December.
Gold, which gained 2 percent in February on economic
uncertainties and signs that U.S. interest rates would stay low
in the near term, has yet to breach the 75-day moving average
of around $1,121 to sustain the uptrend.
"I think gold is being supported by strength in the broader
commodities complex. Metals prices are being led higher by
copper this morning following the earthquake in Chile and oil
is back above $80 a barrel," said David Barclay, commodity
strategist at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong.
"We recently raised our Q2 forecast for gold to $1,100 an
ounce and are still looking for a $1,300 an ounce average by
Q4-2010," he added.
Sterling-priced gold hit record highs above 738 pounds
<XAUGBP=R> after the British currency tumbled to a nine-month
low against the dollar on growing political uncertainty as an
opinion poll pointed to the risk the country's next election
would result in a hung parliament.
Gold priced in euro <XAUEUR=R> held near record highs
around 830 euros hit two weeks ago.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJ0> hit an intraday
high of $1,120.7 an ounce, its strongest since Feb. 23, partly
driven by firm oil prices, before slipping to around $1,117.
Among currencies, the sterling also plunged to a 1-year low
against the yen, while the euro firmed to $1.3630 on
speculation that euro zone policymakers were close to stitching
up a deal to bailout debt-laden Greece. [] [].
This week's focus will be on U.S. jobless data on Friday,
which will give more clues on consumer spending. Forecasts are
for a loss of 50,000 jobs in February, with the jobless rate
seen ticking back up to 9.8 percent. [].
Oil rose above $80 a barrel on Monday, extending last
month's gains of more than 9 percent on threats by Iran that it
could cut off energy supplies to Europe over Tehran's
contentious nuclear programme. []
"There's a bit of bargain hunting in gold but it seems to
be subsiding now. It's still a ranged market, so I don't expect
too much," said a dealer in Hong Kong, adding that gold also
faced resistance at the 1-month high around $1,130 hit last
week.
Silver <XAG=> added 15 cents to $16.59 an ounce, having hit
an intraday high of $16.68, its highest since early February on
gains in copper, but low volumes meant the metal was prone to
sharp movements.
Copper futures jumped to their highest in more than five
weeks on Monday after a massive earthquake in Chile sparked
supply worries but the market pared early gains of 5 percent,
though threats linger. []
Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake and the ensuing tsunamis
killed more than 700 people in Chile, wrecked hundreds of
thousands of homes, mangled highways and bridges and dealt a
heavy blow to one of Latin America's most stable economies.
[]
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,106.987 tonnes
as of Feb. 26, unchanged from the previous business day.
[]
Precious metals prices at 0636 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1117.00 0.80 +0.07 1.94
Spot Silver 16.59 0.15 +0.91 -1.43
Spot Platinum 1538.50 -1.50 -0.10 4.87
Spot Palladium 430.75 0.75 +0.17 6.23
TOCOM Gold 3217.00 19.00 +0.59 -1.29
39009
TOCOM Platinum 4415.00 13.00 +0.30 0.78
12857
TOCOM Silver 48.30 1.10 +2.33 -6.58
866
TOCOM Palladium 1229.00 13.00 +1.07 5.49
149
Euro/Dollar 1.3598
Dollar/Yen 89.16
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
