* Gold seen stabilising around current level
* Gold may retrace to $1,340/oz -technicals []
* Coming up: U.S. industrial output, September; 1315 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Gold fell nearly one percent
on Monday, weighed down by a rebound in the dollar after the
strongest signal yet that the U.S. Federal Reserve is weighing
a much-anticipated easing move.
The dollar rose about half a percent against a basket of
currencies on Monday, after rising off a 10-month low late last
week, with market players saying its short-covering bounce may
have more room to run given a recent build-up of bets against
it. []
"For today, gold prices will continue to slip a bit, and
the longs liquidate their positions. On Friday, gold's
performance was lacklustre due to profit-taking, as investors
think the gold rally may get beaten up after it reached record
prices recently," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Phillip
Futures.
"But so long as gold is able to stay above the $1,350
level, I'll still look at a bullish bias for gold."
Bernanke on Friday gave his most explicit signal yet that
the U.S. central bank was set to ease monetary policy further,
but gave no details. []
Spot gold <XAU=> fell $10.50 to $1,360 an ounce by 0634
GMT, after falling as much as one percent earlier.
"Prices went down sharply this morning, as the dollar
strengthened. But we have seen good buying around the $1,356 to
the $1,356.5 level. Now the price is stabilising around this
level," said a Singapore-based dealer, adding that there was
strong support in the range from $1,350 to $1,352.
"And if the dollar doesn't do much, gold could be
consolidating around current levels."
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> fell 0.8
percent to $1,360.7 an ounce.
A bullish target at $1,404 per ounce for spot gold <XAU=>
has been temporarily aborted, as the retracement may continue
to drive the price down to $1,340 per ounce, said Wang Tao, a
Reuters market analyst. [][]
For a graphic showing the 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20101810093509.jpg
Investors are eyeing U.S. industrial production data due
later on Monday for clues to the timing and extent of the
Federal Reserve's debt purchase programme.
Spot silver <XAG=> fell as much as 2.3 percent to $23.69 an
ounce, before recovering to $23.93. Silver hit a 30-year high
at $24.90 last Thursday.
Holdings in the iShares Silver Trust <SLV> climbed to a new
high of 10,224.05 tonnes by Oct 15 from 10,163.20 tonnes on Oct
14.[]
iShares' holdings had reached record levels for three
consecutive sessions, showing increasing interest in silver, a
cheaper alternative to gold.
Bullion investors may be rightly impressed by silver's
outperformance of gold this year, but they would be well
advised to be wary of seeing the precious metal purely as a
cheaper proxy, analysts said.[]
Spot palladium <XPD=> fell as much as 2.7 percent to $569
an ounce, off the nine-year high at $603.50 hit in the previous
session.
Precious metals prices at 0634 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1360.00 -10.50 -0.77 24.12
Spot Silver 23.93 -0.33 -1.36 42.19
Spot Platinum 1679.00 -8.60 -0.51 14.45
Spot Palladium 571.50 -13.30 -2.27 40.94
TOCOM Gold 3559.00 -51.00 -1.41 9.21
54779
TOCOM Platinum 4409.00 -67.00 -1.50 0.64
13902
TOCOM Silver 62.70 -1.90 -2.94 21.28
1695
TOCOM Palladium 1506.00 -68.00 -4.32 29.27
512
Euro/Dollar 1.3880
Dollar/Yen 81.15
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
