* Gold down on profit taking but holds above $900/oz
* ETF holdings hit fresh record above 800 tonnes
* Goldman Sachs lifts 3-month gold price forecast
* Investors await ECB rate decision, U.S. data
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Gold edged down on Thursday
after rising in New York on safe-haven buying amid a global
financial crisis, with record holdings on the world's largest
gold-backed ETF supporting sentiment.
Selling of scraps persisted in Asia, driven by gold's
recent rise to above $930 as well as fears of falling demand
for jewellery during the global economic downturn. Jewellery
accounts for nearly 70 percent of global demand.
"Gold prices continue to hold around the $900 zone and the
ongoing financial crisis is giving enough fodder to prevent a
major slide," said Pradeep Unni of Richcomm Global Services in
Dubai.
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $903.80 an ounce, down $1.05
from New York's notional close, but was within sight of a near
four-month high of $930.40 an ounce hit last Friday. Gold
struck a record at $1,030.80 last March.
"There's still some physical selling around. After the
Chinese New Year, people continue to sell gold to take
profits," said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus
in Hong Kong.
"The global economy is not doing well. They continue to
reduce their inventories," said Poon, referring to selling from
manufacturers.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs <GS.N> raised its forecast
for the price of gold to $1,000 anounce in the next three
months from its previous forecast of $700due to rising investor
demand for safe-haven assets. []
"The gold price rally has been driven by surging demand for
gold in all forms: physical gold, exchange-traded funds (ETFs),
and futures contracts as investors seek 'a safe store of value'
amid the financial distress and inflation risks," it said in a
report.
"In fact, this recent surge in gold ETF demand would more
than offset a 20 percent decline in the fourth quarter global
jewellery demand for gold," it said.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said it held arecord of 859.49 tonnes of
gold as of Feb. 4, up 6.12 tonnes fromFeb. 2. []
For a graphic of gold holdings by the ETF, click on:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/MKTS_SPDRGLD0509.jpg
Analysts said passage of President Barack Obama's nearly
$900 billion proposed economic stimulus package would likely be
inflationary and bullish for gold, and a failure would be
bearish. []
Investors awaited a raft of financial news that could
determine the direction of the U.S. dollar, although Goldman
Sachs suggested in its report a strong relationship between the
price of gold in dollar terms and the exchange rate of the
dollar against othercurrencies had begun to break down. The
euro held steady ahead of a rate decision by the European
Central Bank, which is widely expected to keep interest rates
at 2.0 percent. []
U.S. preliminary Q4 productivity data, weekly jobless
claims and U.S. factory orders for December will be released on
Thursday. In other markets, the benchmark Nikkei average
<> fell 1.1 percent on worries about the U.S. economy.
[]
Oil hardly changed around $40 a barrel on Thursday, having
fallen the previous day on lower shares and after data showed
U.S. crude inventories rose under the weight of an economic
slowdown. []
PRICES
Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30
RSI Spot gold $903.80 -$1.05 -0.12% +0.76% $860.10
61
Spot silver $12.49 -$0.02 -0.16% +4.26% $11.29
72
Spot plat $967.50 $3.50 +0.36% +1.04% $959.65
56
COMEX gold $906.70 $5.10 +0.57% +1.65% $867.70
58
TOCOM gold 2,612 30 +1.16% +0.66% 2,507
57
TOCOM plat 2,800 45 +1.63% +0.39% 2,715
51
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.284 -$0.029 -2.24% -2.54%
Dlr/yen 89.55 -0.83 -0.92% +0.71%
(Editing by Ben Tan)
