TOKYO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Gold prices steadied near two-week
highs on Wednesday after rallying on a rise in the euro the day
before, with worries about Greece's fiscal problems bolstering
bullion's allure as a safe haven.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold <XAU=> was steady at $1,118.10 an ounce as of
0005 GMT, compared with New York's notional close of $1,118.95.
* Spot gold rallied to two-week highs on Tuesday as the euro
recovered from recent hefty losses against the dollar and
investors snapped up gold to hedge against debt default risks in
Europe.
* Those concerns helped send euro-priced gold to a record
high of 819.07 euros <XAUEUR=R> an ounce on Tuesday. Gold priced
in sterling and South African rand also rose to one-month highs
on Tuesday.
* U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJ0> inched down 0.1
percent to $1,118.20 an ounce, compared with $1,119.80 an ounce
on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Futures ended up $29.80, or 2.73 percent, on Tuesday at their
highest settlement level since Jan. 19.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings rose 0.3 percent or 3.046
tonnes from the previous business day to 1,109.424 tonnes as of
Feb. 16. It was the first increase in holdings since Feb. 5.
[]
MARKET NEWS
* Japan's Nikkei <> average opened up 1.3 percent. []
* U.S. stocks posted their biggest daily percentage gain in
three months on Tuesday after strong revenue from drugmaker Merck
and regional manufacturing data instilled confidence in the
economic outlook. Resource-related shares also gained as a weaker
dollar sparked buying in oil and other commodities. A rise in
U.S. stocks illustrated the return of risk appetite among
investors. []
* The euro held steady on Wednesday after rebounding against
the dollar to post its biggest one-day gain since July the day
before, as traders bet the single currency had slipped too far in
recent weeks over worries about Greece's public finances. But
investors were still cautious amid uncertainty over whether
Greece's debt problems will be resolved quickly. []
DATA EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Wednesday: <ECON>
- Bank of Japan begins two-day policy meeting. (N/A)
- UK jobs data for December/January. (0930 GMT)
- Bank of England February meeting minutes. (0930 GMT)
- Euro zone December foreign trade data. (1000 GMT)
- Weekly U.S. mortgage market index. (1200 GMT)
- U.S. January housing starts/building permits. (1330 GMT)
- Redbook weekly U.S. retail sales. (1355 GMT)
- U.S. January industrial production/capacity use. (1415 GMT)
- U.S. federal budget for January. (1900 GMT)
- U.S. FOMC releases Jan. 26-27 meeting minutes. (1900 GMT)
RELATED NEWS
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>Peru's Yanacocha sees gold sales down this year[]
>Commodities:oil, copper, wheat jump as buyers return[]
>EU tells Greece more deficit cuts may be needed[]
PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0006 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg 2 Day chg MA 30 RSI
Spot gold $1118.25 -$0.70 -0.06% -3.42% $1106.86 66
Spot silver $16.07 -$0.05 -0.31% -11.61% $16.95 48
Spot plat $1532.50 -$4.00 -0.26% +1.32% $1551.82 57
COMEX gold $1118.50 -$0.90 -0.08% +1.62% $1108.57 65
TOCOM gold 3,256 45 +1.40% +2.52% 3,200 64
TOCOM plat 4,444 52 +1.18% +2.07% 4,457 56
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.377 $0.000 -0.01% +1.24%
Dlr/yen 90.24 0.11 +0.12% +0.29%
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
