* SPDR holdings unchanged at 8-month low
* Gold rebound lmited to $1,349-technicals
* Coming up: U.S. initial claims; 1330 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Spot gold prices edged lower
on Thursday, as prospects of slower physical demand weigh on
market sentiment, but cautious economic views on the economy
offered by the U.S. Federal Reserve lent support.
Physical demand in the region is likely to weaken after the
Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 3 this year.
"Physical buying has started to slow down, after prices have
gone up a bit," said a Singapore-based dealer, adding there were
also some profit-taking trades.
"There is not much fresh buying, as people are not keen for
delivery after the Lunar New Year."
Spot gold edged down 0.1 percent at $1,344.95 an
ounce by 0715 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose nearly one
percent at $1,344.5 an ounce.
Supporting gold, the Federal Reserve showed on Wednesday
that it was in no rush to cut short its efforts to rescue the
U.S. economy, saying high unemployment still justified its $600
billion bond-buying plan.
On the fund side, holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the
world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained
unchanged at its eight-month low of 1,229.581 tonnes, after
suffering its biggest one-day drop in the previous session.
"If we are seeing a mass exodus of large funds out of SPDR,
it probably means that gold prices will remain relatively weak
and investors are standing on the sidelines of the market," said
Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.
Gold investors might have been allured by riskier assets,
such as equities, as economic outlook has brightened after a
string of upbeat data from the U.S. and Europe.
Spot gold may edge up slightly to $1,349 per ounce,
and form a peak around this level, based on its wave pattern and
a Fibonacci projection analysis, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market
analyst.
But analysts said gold is expected to build on last year's
stellar run to hit record highs in 2011, a recent Reuters poll
showed.
Platinum group metals have outperformed gold and silver so
far this year. Spot platinum lost half a percent at
$1,801.70, up nearly two percent year-to-date.
Platinum is likely to outshine gold in the medium term,
technical analysts said.
Precious metals prices 0715 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1344.95 -1.41 -0.10 -5.25
Spot Silver 27.58 -0.01 -0.04 -10.63
Spot Platinum 1801.70 -8.80 -0.49 1.93
Spot Palladium 810.50 -2.00 -0.25 1.38
TOCOM Gold 3562.00 30.00 +0.85 -4.48 38326
TOCOM Platinum 4825.00 67.00 +1.41 2.75 10655
TOCOM Silver 73.00 1.80 +2.53 -9.88 1183
TOCOM Palladium 2149.00 76.00 +3.67 2.48 485
Euro/Dollar 1.3711
Dollar/Yen 82.13
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane)
Reuters
Terminal users can see related news and prices by
double
clicking on the codes in brackets:
- All precious metals
headlines
- Precious metals market reports
- Daily fixing headlines
- Technical analysis
- Indian gold reports
- European gold
prices <0#PREC>
- London interbank gold
forward rates <0#GOFO=>
- London silver forwards
- Gold lease rates <0#LGLR=>
-
London Bullion Market Association
- New York Comex
gold <0#GC:> and silver <0#SI:>
- New York
platinum <0#PL:> and palladium <0#PA:>
- Asian
gold prices <0#PREC>
- Australian
precious metals prices <0#AUPREC=>
- Shanghai Gold Exchange prices
- Hong
Kong gold exchange prices
- Hong Kong
bullion prices
- Indian bullion prices
<0#PREC-IN>
- Japanese producer prices
For Related News and other topics,
double click on one of
these
codes: SPEED GUIDES
))
