* Gold reaches near 3-month high on safe haven flows, euro
* SPDR gold ETF holdings hit record high above 1,140 T
* Silver hits highest since January 20, tracking gold
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - Gold hit three-month highs in
Europe on Friday, with a rise in holdings of bullion-backed
exchange-traded funds pointing to strong investment interest,
and a rebound in the euro also lifting prices.
The world's largest gold-backed ETF, New York's SPDR Gold
Trust <GLD>, said its holdings rose nearly 10 tonnes to a record
1,140.433 tonnes on Thursday, its biggest one-day climb since
September. []
Spot gold <XAU=> peaked at $1,157.76 and was bid at
$1,156.40 an ounce at 1343 GMT, against $1,150.15 late in New
York on Thursday.
Gold has benefited from a flight to hard assets amid
persistent concerns over the fiscal health of debt-laden Greece
and other smaller euro zone economies such as Portugal, Italy
and Ireland.
Prices were helped by the euro's recovery after the last
week's heavy losses. Gold has managed to shrug off a near 7
percent fall in the euro's value versus the dollar this year as
sovereign risk and inflation fears boost investment interest.
"As the year progresses, the dollar has continued to
strengthen but gold has picked up," said Barclays Capital
analyst Suki Cooper. "That is due to a combination of investor
interest starting to turn more favourable towards gold, and the
physical demand we're seeing in terms of fabrication."
Major gold markets are starting to buy more gold, with
Indian gold imports seen at 23-28 tonnes in March against 4.8
tonnes a year before, and Turkish imports at 370 kilograms so
far this year compared to zero in the same period of 2009.
"We are comparing data for India and Turkey to very weak
numbers in 2009, but the fact that that demand has emerged at
prices well above $1,000 an ounce is really positive for the
market," said Cooper.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCM0> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $4.90 to
$1,157.80 an ounce.
APPEAL OF HARD ASSETS
A recovery in the euro on Friday on speculation Greece may
receive help to deal with its public debt load is helping gold
push higher still, though simmering concerns over the country
are still keeping some pressure on the single currency. []
Those fears also helped gold.
"The market is overall little bit disappointed with all the
problems with Greece," said Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at
MKS Finance in Geneva. "A lot of people are turning to
commodities as a safe haven."
On the physical side of the gold market, dealers said Indian
demand was recovering after a few slack sessions as a strong
rupee made the dollar-priced metal cheaper. []
ETF flows suggested investment interest in gold was also
firm. Barclays Capital said holdings of the 18 gold-backed
exchange-traded products they track set record highs on
Thursday, reflecting gains in the SPDR fund and others.
Holdings of the Julius Baer Gold Fund rose 2.4 percent on
Thursday to 2.254 tonnes, the fund estimated.
Other precious metals also climbed, with silver <XAG=>
rising in gold's wake to near 11-week highs at $18.36 an ounce
against $18.04.
Platinum <XPT=> was at $1,717 an ounce versus $1,711.50,
while palladium <XPD=> was at $509 versus $501.50.
Both metals benefitted from expectations that demand from
carmakers, which account for more than half of annual
consumption of platinum and palladium, will rise as the economic
recovery picks up.
(Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by William Hardy)
