* Silver hits highest since early 1980
* iShares Silver Trust holdings hit record
* Coming Up: U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly; 1145 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Silver jumped to its highest
since early 1980 on Tuesday on inflation concerns, a rise in ETF
holdings to another record and growing industrial demand, while
gold hardly moved as the euro held below this week's five-month
high versus the dollar.
In addition to rising investment demand for silver as a
cheaper alternative to gold, an expected increase in physical
buying from China was likely to support the metal, which gained
22 percent in the first quarter -- its ninth consecutive
quarterly increase.
Silver , widely used in electronics manufacturing,
rose as high as $38.73 an ounce and was quoted at $38.64 an
ounce by 0301 GMT, up 22 cents.
"We do see a lot of demand for silver from China, so we
think silver used in solar panels have increased. We think China
will have a lot of demand for silver in the medium to long
term," said Natalie Robertson, commodities strategist at ANZ in
Melbourne.
"With China focusing more on renewable energy, especially
after the nuclear crisis in Japan, they will probably be
developing a lot more solar panels. Fundamentally, the silver
picture looks very strong as well."
IShares Silver Trust said its holdings rose to a
record at 11,162.45 tonnes by April 4 from 11,139.52 tonnes on
March 24. []
But some analysts remain wary of silver's extreme
volatility, which has led to some heart-stopping reversals in
recent years. When commodities sold off heavily in mid-March,
silver dropped nearly 5 percent in a single day, versus gold's 2
percent fall. For BUY OR SELL, click: []
Gold added 30 cents to $1,436.85 an ounce -- below a
lifetime high around $1,447 an ounce struck last in March.
Trading was slow, with financial markets closed in Hong Kong and
mainland China.
"I think China has turned to silver jewellery since last
year because it's cheaper. I do see demand for silver from China
for jewellery and I also heard China is buying silver for
hedging purposes," said a physical dealer in Singapore.
"Gold is very quiet, although I do see light physical buying
from Thailand."
U.S. gold futures for June rose $4.5 an ounce to
$1,437.5 an ounce.
The euro held below this week's five-month high against the
dollar and 11-month peak versus the yen as investors paused to
assess how much it can make in fresh gains given that
expectations for interest rate rises have largely been priced
in.
The Nikkei slipped on Tuesday with the mood soured by Tokyo
Electric Power's fall to an all-time low, but was set to stick
to a tight range for a third day as a post-quake rebound looks
to have run its course.
U.S. crude oil futures slipped early Tuesday, but still
hovered around the Monday's 2-1/2 year high as geopolitical
risks amid fighting in Libya, unrest in Yemen and stalled
elections in Nigeria continued to support prices.
Precious metals prices 0301 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1436.85 0.30 +0.02 1.23
Spot Silver 38.64 0.22 +0.57 25.21
Spot Platinum 1792.74 13.29 +0.75 1.43
Spot Palladium 784.25 4.75 +0.61 -1.91
TOCOM Gold 3905.00 28.00 +0.72 4.72 29054
TOCOM Platinum 4893.00 81.00 +1.68 4.20 10616
TOCOM Silver 105.00 1.90 +1.84 29.63 1880
TOCOM Palladium 2138.00 31.00 +1.47 1.96 175
Euro/Dollar 1.4197
Dollar/Yen 84.32
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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