* Gold firms near 2-week highs
* Oil up more than $1 on supply worries
* Physical demand from India and Southeast Asia also helps
(Recasts, adds quotes, physical market activity, premiums)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Gold rose on the back of
firmer oil prices on Friday, hovering near its highest level in
more than two weeks, with demand from jewellers ahead of the
festive season in Asia also offering additional support.
India, the world's largest consumer, is stepping up
purchases ahead of the festive season which will peak in
October with Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Buying
before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in September also
spurred trading.
Gold <XAU=> hit an intraday high of $836.55 an ounce, up
from $831.45/832.65 an ounce late in New York. Gold jumped to
$844.00 an ounce on Thursday, its highest level since Aug. 11,
before losing some of the gains to a firming U.S. dollar.
Supply of gold bars remained tight in Singapore, which was
due to slow arrivals of stocks from refiners in Europe, said
Beh Hsia Wah, a dealer at United Overseas Bank.
"The premium is pretty high. The European side says supply
may be back to normal by mid-September but I am not too sure
about that," she said.
Premiums for gold bars were steady at this year's high of
between $1.20 and $1.80 to the spot London prices.
<GOLD/ASIA1>.
Dealers expected gold to trade in volatile $840 to $845
range amid low volumes ahead of Monday's Labor Day holiday in
the United States.
"If anything, gold promises to remain volatile. In the near
term, gold-price movements will continue to reflect the ups and
downsin the U.S. dollar/euro exchange rate," said Jeffrey
Nichols, managing director of American Precious Metals
Advisors. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies
on profit taking and after oil <CLc1> rose more than $1 to $117
a barrel on worries about possible supply disruptions caused by
Tropical Storm Gustav. []
Gold has bounced as much as 9 percent since tumbling to
nine-month lows around $773 two weeks ago, on high oil prices
and demand from jewellers in Asia and other parts of the world.
But gold is trading below a record high of $1,030.80 hit in
March.
STRONG DEMAND FROM INDIA
"I've noticed that Indian housewives are far better
forecasters of the gold price than most of us paid to do the
job -- and,today, Indian housewives are buying the yellow
metal," said Nichols of American Precious Metals Advisors.
"Fortuitously, physical demand has picked up sharply in the
past month, particularly among retail investors. We've seen
this in India where jewellery demand has picked up early in
response to low prices ahead of the coming festival season."
The new benchmark contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange,
August 2009 <JAUc6>, rose 10 yen per gram higher to 2,947 yen
per gram. New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $4.5 an ounce to
$841.70.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $1,457.00/1,477.00 an ounce
from $1,469.00/1,489.00 late in New York on Thursday.
Platinum, which plummeted to 11-month lows around $1,296
last week, has suffered from expectations car demand will slow
as the global economy falters, cutting demand for
autocatalysts.
Spot palladium <XPD=> inched up to $291.00/299.00 an ounce
from $289.00/297.00 an ounce. Silver <XAG=> rose to
$13.76/13.81 an ounce from $13.64/13.70 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0729 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 835.55 2.30 +0.28 0.34
Spot Silver 13.74 0.11 +0.81 -6.97
Spot Platinum 1457.00 -9.50 -0.65 -4.14
Spot Palladium 291.00 2.00 +0.69 -20.92
TOCOM Gold 2947.00 10.00 +0.34 -3.69
22815
TOCOM Platinum 5070.00 54.00 +1.08 -5.04
16138
TOCOM Silver 485.40 -0.80 -0.16 -10.28
723
TOCOM Palladium 1051.00 12.00 +1.15 -22.21
414
Euro/Dollar 1.4746
Dollar/Yen 108.96
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
