* Gold edges down in thin Asian trade ahead of holiday
* Holdings at SPDR Gold Trust hit new record
* Dollar firms against majors, Nikkei down 2.8 pct
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Gold edged down on Friday
after rising in New York, but sentiment was supported by
investment demand, with holdings on the ETF hitting another
record on safe-haven buying driven by chaos in the banking
sector.
Holdings at the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, the SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, jumped 13.15 tonnesto 819.11
tonnes by Jan. 22, reflecting steady interest from investors.
[]
For a graphic showing SPDR gold holdings versus gold
prices, click on:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/MKTS_SPDRGLD0109.jpg
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $854.40 an ounce, down $1.15
from New York's notional close on Thursday, when it defied a
firm U.S. dollar and gained almost 1 percent on investor
jitters about the banking sector.
Trading was slow in Asia ahead of the Lunar New Year
celebration next week, with some speculators still keen to book
profits from this week's two-week high around $865, said Dick
Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus in Hong Kong.
"There's a bit of selling around. Surely, the market is
very quiet in Asia," said Poon, adding that physical buying
from jewellers could pick up again in early February.
The dollar firmed against major currencies on Friday after
Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner said a strong U.S.
currency was in the United State's interest. []
The dollar was also supported by safe-haven bids due to
losses in Asian shares, with Tokyo's Nikkei share average
<> falling almost 3 percent.
Gold, which often tracks movements in share markets,
rallied to a two-month high of $931 in early October, but then
dropped to a 13-month low around $680 that month after stock
market declines forced investors to cash in to cover losses.
"People are buying the ETF, either perhaps they think gold
is going to go up, or they are turning their attention from
stocks to gold ETF. I guess the attention is back on the
banking sector for now," said Adrian Koh, analyst at Phillip
Futures in Singapore.
"The market can fluctuate a bit, and gold may be down a bit
from the previous day. But the fact that gold holdings keep
breaking new highs sort of points towards the fact that more
people are putting their money into gold ETFs."
Dealers said investors turned to gold as a safe harbour as
they priced in the worst possibilities for the banking sector
after Royal Bank of Scotland reported huge losses and Bank of
America was granted more government funding.
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $921.50 an ounce, down $4.50
from New York's notional close.
New York gold futures <GCZ9> fell $4.7 an ounce to $854.1
in electronic trade.
Precious metals prices at 0337 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 854.40 -1.15 -0.13 2.61
Spot Silver 11.34 -0.04 -0.35 -23.22
Spot Platinum 921.50 -4.50 -0.49 -39.38
Spot Palladium 182.00 0.00 +0.00 -50.54
TOCOM Gold 2452.00 -7.00 -0.28 -19.87
11184
TOCOM Platinum 2630.00 -27.00 -1.02 -50.74
3815
TOCOM Silver 321.30 -0.30 -0.09 -40.61
75
TOCOM Palladium 529.00 -7.00 -1.31 -60.84
57
Euro/Dollar 1.2967
Dollar/Yen 88.94
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
