* Gold to slide more to $1,437-technicals []
* Coming Up: U.S. Retail sales mm Mar; 1230 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) - Gold bounced higher on
Wednesday after posting its biggest decline 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 as steady physical demand from India helped it
regain $40 an ounce. The gold-to-silver ratio was at a 28-year
low.
Spot gold added $2.81 to $1,456.76 an ounce by 0558
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 32 cents to $40.36 an ounce, not
far from a 31-year high at $41.93 struck on Monday.
Dealers said India has 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, with gold jewellery a common gift.
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 $4.4 an ounce $1,458
an ounce.
In other markets, Tokyo shares nudged higher, with Tokyo
Electric surging on a report that its liabilities
stemming from the nuclear crisis may be capped, while the euro
held steady against the dollar after touching a 15-month high of
$1.4520 on Tuesday on trading platform EBS.
Precious metals prices 0558 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1456.76 2.81 +0.19 2.63
Spot Silver 40.36 0.32 +0.80 30.78
Spot Platinum 1778.00 12.30 +0.70 0.59
Spot Palladium 764.72 3.32 +0.44 -4.35
TOCOM Gold 3953.00 13.00 +0.33 6.01 66812
TOCOM Platinum 4841.00 16.00 +0.33 3.09 12454
TOCOM Silver 109.40 1.40 +1.30 35.06 2247
TOCOM Palladium 2086.00 -8.00 -0.38 -0.52 276
Euro/Dollar 1.4486
Dollar/Yen 84.19
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Ed Lane)
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