* Spot palladium hits fresh 18-mth high on investment demand
* Solid buying demand for gold seen near $1,100/oz
* Holdings by SPDR Gold Trust <GLD> fall 0.914 tonnes
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Spot palladium hit a fresh 18-month
high on Monday, helped by investment demand following the launch
of a new U.S.-based exchange-traded fund backed by the metal,
pulling other precious metals higher including gold.
Following the launch of the first U.S.-based platinum and
palladium exchange-traded funds earlier this month, both metals
have benefited from buying interest as well as expectations that
such interest will remain intact for some time.
"I am hearing of U.S. and European dealers buying these
metals but I haven't seen Chinese buyers as prices have climbed
recently," said Yuichi Ikemizu, the Tokyo branch manager for
Standard Bank.
"Outlook for platinum and palladium looks quite bullish while
gold is expected to remain rangebound. The widening spread
between platinum and gold reflects how strong sentiment is for
platinum," he said, adding that investment demand related to the
exchange-traded funds was likely to remain robust.
Spot palladium <XPD=> rose as high as $456.50 an ounce as of
0608 GMT, its highest since July 2008, and up nearly 1 percent
from the notional close in New York on Friday.
Platinum <XPT=> rose as high as $1,623.50 an ounce, just
below a 17-month high of $1,624.00 hit last week.
Gold prices were up slightly but the topside was limited by
firmness in the dollar, as the closure of New York markets later
in the day kept many investors on the sidelines.
Spot gold <XAU=> inched up 0.4 percent to $1,134.70 per ounce
as of 0614 GMT compared to New York's notional close of
$1,129.90.
New York energy and commodity markets are closed on Monday
for Matin Luther King Jr. Day.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> were at
$1,135.30 per ounce, also up 0.4 percent. Electronic trading of
the NYMEX/COMEX products on CME Globex is running for the Jan. 19
trade date. []
Gold was underpinned by physical demand on any fall towards
$1,100, helped by buying from gold jewellers in India.
[]
"Gold is being supported by solid demand near $1,100, but any
rise closer to $1,200 is seen as a good chance to lock in
profits, resulting in the boxed-range trade," said Tatsufumi
Okoshi, a senior economist at Nomura Securities Co.
"The biggest day-to-day market factor now is the direction of
the dollar," Okoshi said.
The dollar remained firm against major currencies on Monday,
with the euro <EUR=> vulnerable to falls on concerns about fiscal
problems buffeting Greece. []
Spot gold hit a five-week high of $1,161.50 on Jan. 11. Gold
has fallen 2.3 percent since then, as a rise in the greenback
hurt investor sentiment.
A higher dollar often trims the precious metal's allure as an
alternative asset.
Gold was also hurt by a broad sell-off in commodities last
week after China took a major step towards tightening monetary
policy by increasing reserve requirements for its banks.
On Thursday, China is expected to report a 20 percent
year-on-year jump in industrial output for December. Also on
Thursday, China is expected to report a return to double-digit
economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2009. []
"There's no doubt about an uptrend in Chinese demand for
commodities. The gold market would react only if the dollar is
affected by upcoming Chinese data," Nomura's Okoshi said.
The holdings by the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, fell 0.914 tonnes to
1,112.836 tonnes on Jan 15. []
For a graphic on the SPDR holdings, click:
http://link.reuters.com/teh24h
Despite recent investment outflows from the gold ETF,
Friday's data showed speculative buyers were returning, albeit
gradually.
Net long noncommercial U.S. gold futures positions rose by
1,575 contracts, or 0.7 percent, to 229,342 contracts in the week
to Jan 12, according to the weekly Commitments of Traders report
published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
[]
That marked the first weekly rise in such positions since in
the week ended on Dec 15.
Precious metals prices at 0626 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1133.70 3.80 +0.34 3.47
Spot Silver 18.55 0.19 +1.03 10.22
Spot Platinum 1622.00 25.50 +1.60 10.57
Spot Palladium 457.00 4.50 +0.99 12.70
TOCOM Gold 3324.00 -18.00 -0.54 1.99 56645
TOCOM Platinum 4707.00 48.00 +1.03 7.44 16621
TOCOM Silver 54.60 -0.20 -0.36 5.61 355
TOCOM Palladium 1327.00 22.00 +1.69 13.91 579
Euro/Dollar 1.4370
Dollar/Yen 90.85
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Joseph
Radford)
