* Gold to slide more to $1,437-technicals []
* Coming Up: U.S. Retail sales mm Mar; 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) - Gold bounced higher on
Wednesday after posting its biggest fall in a month in the
previous session, shrugging off falls in exchange traded fund
holdings and gaining support on inflation concerns in major gold
buyer China.
Silver was within sight of its highest level in more than
three decades, with the gold-to-silver ratio at a 28-year low.
Spot gold added $1.34 to $1,455.29 an ounce by 0321
GMT after falling as low as $1,443.49 an ounce on Tuesday,
tracking declines in oil prices.
Bullion hit a record around $1,476 an ounce on Monday on the
prospect of more declines in the dollar.
"You can say that we're going through a consolidation phase.
Physical demand is still certainly out there," said Jonathan
Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services.
However, Barratt said a client note by Goldman Sachs to lock
in recent commodity price gains could serve as a "wake up" call
on price levels.
Goldman Sachs expects Brent crude to fall towards $105 in
coming months, according to a note e-mailed to clients, after
recommending on Monday they close trades on a basket of
commodities that include U.S. crude. []
[]
But steady physical buying from China, the world's second
largest gold consumer, showed that inflation was a concern, with
crude oil prices still above $100. China's central bank raised
interest rates on April 5 for the fourth time since October,
underlining Beijing's determination to clamp down on inflation.
[]
China is due to release key economic data including March
inflation, industrial output as well as the economic growth for
the first quarter on Friday, which may give investors clues on
Beijing's next policy move. []
South Korea's central bank on Wednesday lifted its forecast
for 2011 consumer inflation while maintaining its economic
growth projection, a day after it kept interest rates unchanged
despite high inflation pressure. []
Central banks turned net buyers of gold last year and cut
exposure to debt issued by euro zone members Greece, Ireland and
Portugal, an annual survey of the world's reserve managers
showed. []
Spot gold is expected to fall more to $1,437 per
ounce based on an ascending trendline and a Fibonacci
retracement analysis, according to Wang Tao, Reuters market
analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
For a 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT1/20111304100144.jpg
PHYSICAL MARKET
Activity in the physical market had yet to pick up on
Wednesday after light overnight buying from India, the world's
largest consumer.
"We've seen some gold buying from China, but there's not
much activity today because Thailand is on holiday. Indonesia is
also on the sidelines because the price is stuck at the current
level. They don't want to either buy or sell," said a dealer in
Singapore.
"There was light buying from India last night but the demand
for silver is growing, even though silver is getting more
expensive."
Spot silver rose 11 cents to $40.15 an ounce, still
below a 31-year high at $41.93 struck on Monday.
Dealers said India had showed steady interest in silver
since early this year, although it was not clear whether the
metal was now used a substitute to gold. India is in the midst
of the wedding season, when parents give jewellery, mostly gold,
to other daughters.
Holdings on gold and silver ETFs slipped as investors booked
profits from recent peak. The world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings
slipped to 1,216.299 tonnes by April 12 from
1,217.209 tonnes on April 7.
IShares Silver Trust said its holdings fell to
11,212.53 tonnes by April 12 from a record of 11,242.89 tonnes
hit on April 8.
U.S. gold futures for June rose $2.4 an ounce $1,456
an ounce.
In other markets, the Nikkei stock average was flat in
morning trade on Wednesday, with short-covering in exporters
offsetting declines in energy-related shares as oil prices
extended losses, while the euro climbed to a 15-month high
against the dollar at $1.4520.
Precious metals prices 0321 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1455.29 1.34 +0.09 2.52
Spot Silver 40.15 0.11 +0.27 30.10
Spot Platinum 1767.49 1.79 +0.10 0.00
Spot Palladium 759.47 -1.93 -0.25 -5.01
TOCOM Gold 3935.00 -5.00 -0.13 5.52 53629
TOCOM Platinum 4795.00 -30.00 -0.62 2.11 9989
TOCOM Silver 108.40 0.40 +0.37 33.83 1954
TOCOM Palladium 2067.00 -27.00 -1.29 -1.43 215
Euro/Dollar 1.4467
Dollar/Yen 83.90
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Ed Lane)
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