* SPDR stays at record high, Silver trust holdings at
record
* Gold looks set to shed 2 pct on week
By Chikako Mogi
TOKYO, March 27 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Friday
after the previous session's modest gains as investors weighed
support from lingering economic uncertainty against growing
appetite for for other assets such as equities.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq stock index in New York <>
moved into positive territory for the year to date on Thursday
giving Asian stocks an early boost, while the dollar eased
against the yen and euro after rebounding the previous day.
"While the rally in equity markets has undermined the
flight-to-quality argument for precious metals, increased
risk-appetite is dollar negative which is supportive to gold
prices," said Toby Hassall, an analyst at Commodity Warrants
Australia.
"Furthermore, the positive sentiment in equity markets may
be interpreted as a vote of confidence in the recently
announced Fed and Treasury policies, which will have some
investors buying precious metals as an inflation hedge," he
said.
Gold <XAU=> was at $934.25 per ounce at 0620 GMT, little
changed from New York's notional close of $933.05. At current
levels, gold looks set to shed nearly 2 percent from a week
ago. Bullion has recovered about 5 percent from a six-week
low of $882.90 hit on March 18, but is still 7 percent off the
11-month high above $1,000 set in February, and well under an
all-time peak of $1,030.80 hit in March 2008.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said holdings remained unchanged at a
record 1,124.99 tonnes as of March 26. []
For a graphic, click on:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/MKTS_SPDRGLD240309.jpg
For details on the gold holdings of the ETF listed in New
York and co-listed on other exchanges, click on:
http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
Gold prices have been stuck in ranges as players await new
incentives now that the U.S. government appears to have taken
all measures possible to deal with the country's economic and
financial distress, traders said.
Improved investor sentiment spurred some funds to flow out
of gold into stocks, weighing on gold prices, traders said. But
global fiscal spendings have raised the risk of inflation in
the long term, keeping gold's appeal as a hedge against
inflation.
"Investor focus on gold has shifted to the metal's appeal
as a hedge against inflation from a haven in times of risk
aversion," said a dealer at a European bank in Tokyo, adding
that inflation risk would hurt the dollar, supporting gold.
Traders said some funds may have shifted from gold to
silver trust holdings, but the impact on spot gold prices was
limited due to the smaller size of the silver trust than that
of gold.
Spot silver <XAG=> inched up 0.5 percent to $13.53 an
ounce.
The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the
iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its bullion holdings rose
116.49 tonnes or 1.4 percent from the previous day to a record
8,296.93 tonnes as of March 26. []
"Record-high holdings of gold and silver by the major
metal-backed ETFs is evidence that investment demand remains
the supportive element for precious metals," said Hassall.
For a graphic, click on:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/CMD_SLVETF0309.jpg
Prices as of 0620 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 934.25 1.20 +0.13 6.15
Spot Silver 13.53 0.07 +0.52 19.52
Spot Platinum 1139.50 -1.50 -0.13 22.26
Spot Palladium 220.50 -0.50 -0.23 19.51
TOCOM Gold 2961.00 4.00 +0.14 15.08
28654
TOCOM Platinum 3624.00 5.00 +0.14 36.65
15300
TOCOM Silver 423.80 0.50 +0.12 32.73
149
TOCOM Palladium 710.00 15.00 +2.16 29.09
663
Euro/Dollar 1.3583
Dollar/Yen 98.18
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; editing by Nick
Trevethan)
