* Market awaits U.S. employment data for direction
* Speculative interest seen waning
* Coming Up: U.S. consumer confidence; 1400 GMT
(Adds comments, details; updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, March 29 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on
Tuesday, as investors weighed the implication of the possible
end of easy monetary policy in advanced economies, paring
holdings in the top exchanged-traded gold fund.
The euro zone's inflation has risen above the target, said
the European Central Bank's chief, strengthening expectations
that the bank may raise interest rates next month.
[]
Rate hikes tend to dampen gold prices in the short term, but
over the long run, gold still benefits from rising inflation as
investors seek safe-haven assets including bullion.
Spot gold edged down 0.1 percent to $1,417.71 an
ounce by 0324 GMT.
U.S. gold <GCv1> slipped 0.1 percent to $1,418.40.
"Gold should stay rangebound between $1,410 to $1,440, with
focus shifting to currencies," said a Singapore-based trader,
adding that physical demand would emerge if prices dropped below
$1,410.
Investors are still watching the ongoing Middle East crisis,
as oil prices eased after Libyan rebels pressed forward against
embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"If Libya's situation stabilised, it would ease the fear on
future inflation and dampen sentiment in gold," said Li Ning, an
analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.
Gold hit a record high of $1,447.40 last week in the
aftermath of Japan's devastating earthquake, tsunami and the
following nuclear crisis, but speculative interest was seen
waning.
"There is not much to trade on," said a Tokyo-based trader,
"but we are likely to see big moves in the markets following the
U.S. non-farm payrolls data on Friday night, which will likely
give a clear direction to the market."
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, extended their decline to a
three-week low of 1,211.836 tonnes by March 28.
The ETF's holdings are headed for the biggest quarterly drop
since the fund was established in November 2004, and a third
straight quarter of falls.
Spot silver declined by half a percent to $36.92 an
ounce, down 3 percent from a 31-year high of $38.13 reached last
Thursday.
Spot silver has risen nearly 20 percent this year, compared
to a small 0.1 percent loss in gold, 1.7-percent decline in
platinum and a 7-percent fall in palladium.
Precious metals prices 0324 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1417.71 -1.79 -0.13 -0.12
Spot Silver 36.92 -0.20 -0.54 19.64
Spot Platinum 1737.49 -8.21 -0.47 -1.70
Spot Palladium 739.75 -2.28 -0.31 -7.47
TOCOM Gold 3736.00 -13.00 -0.35 0.19 21395
TOCOM Platinum 4590.00 20.00 +0.44 -2.26 7596
TOCOM Silver 96.60 -0.60 -0.62 19.26 2381
TOCOM Palladium 1943.00 -12.00 -0.61 -7.34 153
COMEX GOLD APR1 1418.40 -1.50 -0.11 -0.21 5205
COMEX SILVER MAY1 36.96 -0.13 -0.36 19.44 4148
Euro/Dollar 1.4083
Dollar/Yen 81.73
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.)
Reuters
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