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activity, adds NEW YORK to dateline)
By Frank Tang and Atul Prakash
NEW YORK/LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Gold drifted lower on
Friday in a cautious trading tone in spite of a decline in the
dollar, and analysts said the market was likely to continue
moving in a range in the near term.
The catalyst could come from sharp changes in the currency
and the energy markets or heavy buying from investment funds,
betting on strong returns in the long term, they said.
Gold <XAU=> was at $924.60/925.40 an ounce by New York's
last quote at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT), against $925.90/926.70
in New York late on Thursday and a record high of $1,030.80 on
March 17.
Zachary Oxman, senior trader with Wisdom Financial in
Newport Beach, California said that investors have been averse
to taking additional risk under the current market conditions.
"There is a general tone of lower willingness to take risk
at this point. I think you are probably seeing people being
hesitant or not allowed to take as much risk as they normally
would," Oxman said.
The yen rose broadly against the dollar after a fall in
earnings of U.S. bellwether General Electric stoked fears about
the economy, causing investors to dump risky trades.
A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of other
currencies and often lifts bullion demand. The metal is also
generally seen as a hedge against oil-led inflation.
U.S. crude <CLc1> ended up 3 cents at $110.14 a barrel,
reversing initial losses, lifting gold from session lows.
But some analysts said the market might gather upward
momentum next week.
"The $930-mark has proved a hard nut to convincingly crack
in the past few days, but I think gold is in for a fresh push
higher," said David Thurtell, metals analyst at BNP Paribas.
"U.S. consumer sentiment data was extremely weak, and the
possibility is that the euro can touch $1.60 next week,
dragging gold higher," he added.
GOLD STRUGGLES
Gold struck a record high above $1,000 an ounce last month
but has since struggled to sustain the uptrend, with a broad
commodities pullback dragging the price down.
In the U.S. futures market, the active contract for June
delivery <GCM8> settled down $4.80 at $927 an ounce.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $2,002/2,007 an ounce from
$2,024/2,032 late in New York on Thursday.
"The nature and extent of the South African power shortages
that brought (platinum) production to a halt for five days in
January are unlikely to be resolved in the near term given the
operational and capacity constraints," Barclays Capital said.
Silver <XAG=> was down at $17.74/17.79 versus $17.95/18.00,
its previous finish in the U.S. market, but palladium <XPD=>
rose $7.50 to $466/474.
(Editing by Marguerita Choy)
