* Gold pauses after hitting historic levels above $1,060
* SPDR Gold holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> steady
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Gold fell below $1,050 an ounce on
Friday as the dollar edged up, snapping a rally that took prices
of the precious metal to all-time highs for three consecutive
days.
Spot gold hit a record $1,061.20 on Thursday as the dollar's
weakness increased bullion's traditional appeal as a hedge
against the U.S. currency.
The dollar rose on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke indicated monetary policy might have to be tightened as
a recovery takes hold, helping to pull the greenback off 14-month
lows against a basket of currencies. []
Apart from its strong inverse correlation with the dollar,
fears of inflation have also fuelled gold's rise to historic
levels this week.
"I think gold's uptrend remains intact," said Shuji Sugata, a
manager at Mitsubishi Corp Futures & Securities' research team.
Technical analysts at Barclays Capital said in a report on
Oct. 6 that their outlook on gold was bullish, with a push
towards $1,120 now a possibility.
"There are new participants that are being attracted to the
market now as it rises," Sugata said.
He said these new inflows of money could be seen in areas
including gold-backed exchange-traded funds and physical buying.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,109.314
tonnes as of Oct. 8, unchanged from the previous business day.
[]
Holdings rose for four days in a row, to 1,109.314 tonnes as
of Oct. 7, again approaching the record high of 1,134.03 tonnes
marked on June 1.
Gold <XAU=> was at $1,047.60 an ounce as of 0550 GMT, down
0.6 percent from the notional New York close. At the current
level, it is set for a rise of more than 4 percent on the week,
its biggest weekly gain since late April.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> were at
$1,049.0 an ounce, down 0.7 percent from the previous settlement.
In industry news, some 500 mine workers resumed work on
Thursday at a mine owned by South African gold producer DRDGOLD
<DRDJ.J> while their colleagues at another of the group's mines
are also preparing to end a four-week long strike. []
Other precious metals prices, which have also been on the
rise, fell in line with gold.
Spot silver <XAG=> was at $17.63 an ounce, down 0.5 percent.
Platinum <XPT=> was at $1,330.50, down 1 percent, while its
sister metal palladium <XPD=> was at 315.50, down 0.8 percent.
Both metals are valued for their their industrial
applications as auto catalysts.
Precious metals prices at 0548 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1047.40 -6.60 -0.63 19.00
Spot Silver 17.62 -0.10 -0.56 55.65
Spot Platinum 1331.00 -13.50 -1.00 42.81
Spot Palladium 315.50 -2.50 -0.79 71.00
TOCOM Gold 3015.00 15.00 +0.50 17.18 58400
TOCOM Platinum 3837.00 36.00 +0.95 44.68 9901
TOCOM Silver 504.90 0.40 +0.08 58.13 509
TOCOM Palladium 910.00 19.00 +2.13 65.45 597
Euro/Dollar 1.4726
Dollar/Yen 89.25
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 Risa Maeda; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
