* Gold below $800 for first time since December
* Silver tumbles 11 percent
(Updates prices to afternoon)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Gold tumbled nearly 3 percent
on Friday and slipped below $800 for the first time since
December 2007 as investors fled precious metals, with their
confidence shattered by falling oil prices and a surging U.S.
dollar.
Silver, which normally tracks gold, was the hardest hit,
falling more than 11 percent to its lowest since last
September. Platinum slipped more than 2 percent and palladium 3
percent to its weakest in nearly two years.
Spot gold <XAU=> hit an intraday low of $788.50, its
weakest since mid-December, before bouncing to $796.20/797.60
an ounce, still down from $811.25/812.65 late in New York on
Thursday and well below an all time high of $1,030.80 hit in
March.
"It's still early to say it's the end of the super-cycle
but if the markets continue to fall like they are doing now, I
am sure many people will be talking about it very soon," said
Adrian Koh, analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"The region around $750 is very important because this is a
long-term gold uptrend support. So, if it's broken, gold's
really gone," he said.
Gold has lost much of this year's gains to profit taking,
oil's declines fromrecord highs and more recently the dollar's
rally against abasket of currencies which reduced the metal's
safe-haven appeal.
"I am not surprised to see a breakthrough of $800 now, and
I guess what's coming into play now is more technical selling
below $800," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in
Sydney.
"We'll have some people targeting $750, but I think we
would need to see a continuation in that dollar strength to
give it sufficient momentum to head that way," he said.
The dollar hit another six-month high against the euro
after data showed the euro zone economy contracted in the
second quarter and U.S. consumer prices rose at a faster pace
in July. []
Oil <CLc1> fell more than $1 to below $114 a barrel on
fears about the slowing global economy, with a stronger dollar
also prompting funds to exit. []
The rising dollar has reduced gold's appeal as an
alternative investment while falling oil has diminished the
metal's role as a hedge against inflation.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> fell $12.50 an ounce to
$802.00.
The benchmark contract for June 2009 delivery <0#JAU:> on
the Tokyo Commodity Exchange sank by the daily 150 yen limit to
2,813 yen per gram, its weakest since late November, before
bouncing.
Silver <XAG=> fell to $12.71/12.80 an ounce from
$14.15/14.21 late in New York on Thursday.
"Near-term support should be around $12.38 then $12.00s,"
said Koh of Philip Futures.
"On a more bearish note, we could in fact head all the way
down to $11.50s because the long-term uptrend seems to be
breached as of today's sharp downward movement," he said.
Spot platinum <XPT=> dropped to $1,446/1,466 an ounce from
$1,481/1,501 an ounce. Spot palladium <XPD=> fell to
$300.00/306.00 an ounce from$306.50/314.50 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0429 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 795.30 -10.30 -1.28 -4.49
Spot Silver 12.71 -1.43 -10.11 -13.95
Spot Platinum 1446.00 -35.00 -2.36 -4.87
Spot Palladium 300.00 -4.50 -1.48 -18.48
TOCOM Gold 2834.00 -129.00 -4.35 -7.39
44263
TOCOM Platinum 5116.00 -280.00 -5.19 -4.18
9937
TOCOM Silver 496.80 -40.00 -7.45 -8.17
204
TOCOM Palladium 1076.00 -91.00 -7.80 -20.36
852
Euro/Dollar 1.4772
Dollar/Yen 110.11
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 Chikafumi Hodo in TOKYO; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez)
