* Platinum rises to 1-month high
* Coming Up: Euro zone Jan retail sales, 1000 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 3 (Reuters) - Gold was steady near a
6-week high on Wednesday as investors worried about volatility
in currencies turned to the metal as a safe haven, while fund
buying lifted platinum to its strongest in a month.
A firmer euro and positive fourth-quarter gross domestic
data from Australia, which lifted the Australian dollar, sent
gold prices to a high of around $1,136 an ounce before sales of
scrap from China trimmed the gains.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,133.95 an ounce by 0620 GMT,
hardly changed from New York's notional close on Tuesday, when
it hit an intraday high of $1,137.35 -- its strongest since
Jan. 20. Gold was about 5 percent below record around $1,200
hit in December.
"I guess the trend is quite bullish but I personally think
the upside for gold is rather limited and we saw some
investment banks bidding on the PGM," said a dealer in Hong
Kong, referring to platinum and palladium.
"I guess the market is still consolidating. There's some
fresh buying in gold but it seems the market can not move up
too high," he added.
Gold priced in sterling and the euro <XAUGBP=R> <XAUEUR=R>
held near lifetime highs struck on Tuesday.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJ0> fell $2.7 an
ounce to $1,134.7 after ending almost 2 percent higher on
Tuesday on currency fluctuations related to Greece's fiscal
crisis and political crisis in Britain. []
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,111.556 tonnes
as of March 2, up 4.569 tonnes from the previous business day.
[]
"Well, currencies are always volatile and the gold price
itself can be volatile," said David Moore, commodities
strategist at CBA in Sydney.
"But I do think that gold is still getting a little bit of
support from safe haven demand on lingering concerns about how
the international economic recovery will proceed, and also the
fact that international interest rates are still quite low."
The <EUR=> euro rose against the dollar as investors
trimmed record short positions in the single currency that had
pushed it to more than a nine-month low the previous day, and
ahead of a possible European debt plan to support Greece.
[]
The pound rose 0.6 percent to $1.5068 <GBP=D4>, recovering
further after having been dumped to a 10-month low of $1.4781
on Monday on large selling flows possibly linked to mergers and
acquisitions.
In other precious metals, silver <XAG=> was steady, while
platinum <XPT=> hit an intraday high of $1,576.50 an ounce, its
strongest since in early February, as the metal used in auto
catalysts caught up with bullion's recent gains.
Speculative buying in platinum futures on Tokyo Commodity
Exchange <0#JPL:> also helped push up cash prices, dealers
said.
General Motors Co [] on Tuesday posted a nearly 12
percent gain in U.S. February sales, boosted by a doubling in
sales to fleet operators and relatively strong demand for newer
crossovers like the Chevy Equinox. []
Oil <CLc1> stood steady on Wednesday near $80 a barrel
after a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories
and a greater-than-forecast drawdown in distillates. []
Precious metals prices at 0627 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1133.95 -0.55 -0.05 3.49
Spot Silver 16.95 0.03 +0.18 0.71
Spot Platinum 1569.50 3.00 +0.19 6.99
Spot Palladium 438.00 -1.00 -0.23 8.01
TOCOM Gold 3252.00 31.00 +0.96 -0.21
51596
TOCOM Platinum 4486.00 43.00 +0.97 2.40
18104
TOCOM Silver 49.00 1.20 +2.51 -5.22
625
TOCOM Palladium 1261.00 9.00 +0.72 8.24
212
Euro/Dollar 1.3633
Dollar/Yen 88.88
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
