* Gold slips over 1 pct before rebounding
* Nikkei bounces after falling sharply on recession fears
* Oil down below $56 a barrel
* Platinum up ahead of Tuesday's Johnson Matthey report
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Monday,
having fallen more than 1 percent earlier after a meeting of
the Group of 20 major economies stopped short of announcing
major regulatory breakthroughs, sending oil prices down.
Investors also cashed in gold to cover losses in equities
as they braced for a third straight week of losses on Wall
Street, while a fall in oil prices reduced bullion's safe haven
appeal. Speculators cut positions in New York gold futures.
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $741.75 an ounce, up $0.40 from
New York's notional close on Friday, when it gained 1.6 percent
on technical buying ahead of the G20 summit. It hit an intraday
low of $731.25 on Monday on weaker oil and a firming dollar.
Gold is struggling to sustain an uptrend since hitting a
two-month high of $931 in early October. It was well below a
lifetime high of $1,030.80 struck in March.
"At the moment, maybe investors are bit more cautious
about gold as a safe haven asset given that basically the
price, obviously, compared with a couple of months ago has
fallen," said David Moore, commodities analyst at Commonwealth
Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"The gold price has also been very volatile at times as
well. I think there's a preferance for cash at the moment."
The dollar rose against the euro after the G20 meeting
produced no concrete plan to avert a looming global recession,
which threatened to cut demand for commodities and prompted
investors to dump risky assets, including gold. []
Governments from Washington to Beijing agreed on Saturday
to a raft of fiscal and monetary steps to rescue the global
economy but it was left to individual governments to tailor
their responses to their particular circumstances and troubled
industries. []
Weaker oil and volatile equity markets equties also put
pressure on gold. Japan's Nikkei <> rose 0.7 percent,
having fallen sharply in early trade after data showed the
world's second-biggest economy was in recession. []
But early gains in the yen against the dollar spurred
buying in platinum by speculators in Japan ahead of supply and
demand outlook to be released by precious metals refiner
Johnson Matthey <JMAT.L> on Tuesday.
Some speculators, especially in Japan, expected JM to
release another market-friendly report despite the current
global economic situation. The refiner said in May platinum
market could close 2008 in a significant deficit due to output
shortfalls.
"Some people wish to get a good report from Johnson
Matthey. There's actual demand for platinum ingots by private
investors in Japan," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals
analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $848.00 ounce, up $22.50
from New York's notional close.
Platinum spiked to a record of $2,290 in March after power
shortage in main producer South Africa disrupted mining but the
price has since fallen to track declines in gold, and recently
due to poor car sales that threaten to cut demand for
autocatalysts.
Oil <CLc1> slipped more than $1 to below $56 a barrel,
falling to near its weakest in almost two years, on recession
fears. []
New York gold futures <GCZ8> fell $0.5 an ounce to $742.0
an ounce.
Noncommercial investors, or speculators, were net long on
63,959 contracts on gold futures traded on COMEX in the week
ended Nov. 11 compared with a net long of 68,195 contracts in
the week to Nov. 4.
Precious metals prices at 0710 MT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 741.75 0.40 +0.05 -10.92
Spot Silver 9.61 0.14 +1.48 -34.94
Spot Platinum 848.00 22.50 +2.73 -44.21
Spot Palladium 218.00 6.00 +2.83 -40.76
TOCOM Gold 2312.00 46.00 +2.03 -24.44
40781
TOCOM Platinum 2668.00 40.00 +1.52 -50.03
17656
TOCOM Silver 301.00 14.80 +5.17 -44.36
757
TOCOM Palladium 703.00 14.00 +2.03 -47.96
222
Euro/Dollar 1.2582
Dollar/Yen 97.16
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 James Regan in Sydney; Editing by Ben
Tan)
(lewa.pardomuan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3834; Reuters
Messaging:lewa.pardomuan.reuters.com@reuters.net))
