* Gold hits high around $1,209, then slips
* For the technicals on gold, click []
* Coming Up; ISM N-Mfg PMI; 1400 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, July 6 (Reuters) - Gold relinquished early gains
on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar firmed against the euro and stock
markets dropped on concerns about economic slowdowns in the
U.S. and China, prompting speculators to sell bullion to cover
losses.
Gold's failure to revisit a recent record also spurred some
selling, though dealers expected jewellers to snap up the metal
at lower levels. Platinum fell to its weakest since late May on
lower equities, while palladium saw bargain buying after recent
declines.
Gold <XAU=> fell $1.17 to $1,205.78 an ounce by 0248 GMT,
having hit a high around $1,209. Gold slipped 3.4 percent last
week, moving away from the record $1,264.90 hit in June, as
risk aversion linked to fears over a debt crisis in Europe
subsided.
"What gold needs now is a fresh catalyst. It needs
something to trigger it to go higher. We might be seeing
investors cashing up to rebalance other markets," said Mark
Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ in Melbourne.
"There's certainly been a fair bit of disappointment that
it was unable to break a fresh record high early last week,"
said Pervan, who pegged support at a May level around $1,170 an
ounce.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ0> hardly changed
at $1,207. U.S. financial markets reopen on Tuesday after a
holiday for the country's independence day.
For a graphic of the 24-hour gold technical outlook,
click:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/WT_20100607090850.jpg
Holdings in the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD.P> were unchanged at 1,318.915
tonnes. []
The euro <EUR=> edged down to $1.2505, with global risk
appetite taken a beating on growing worries about the health of
the euro zone's banking system, a slowdown in China and risks
of a double-dip recession in the United States. []
The Nikkei fell 1.7 percent on Tuesday to a more than six
month low under pressure from sliding U.S. stock futures and a
stronger yen, which was partly driven by comments from former
IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff on the Bloomberg website
that China's property market is beginning a "collapse". []
[]
"There's a bit of physical buying because the price is more
or less similar to yesterday's levels. I guess people wait for
the U.S. market reopen and then see what happens," said a
bullion dealer in Hong Kong.
"We have to watch out if the U.S. is in a recession. If
it's in a recession, then investors will be selling gold. If
there's no money in their pockets, how can they buy gold?"
Commodities began the third quarter with a near 5 percent
tumble in oil and a sharp sell-off in metals as fears of a
global economic slowdown extended the sector's woeful
performance in the past three months. []
Precious metals prices at 0248 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1205.78 -1.17 -0.10 10.05
Spot Silver 17.71 -0.04 -0.23 5.23
Spot Platinum 1492.00 -14.50 -0.96 1.70
Spot Palladium 428.50 0.50 +0.12 5.67
TOCOM Gold 3405.00 -34.00 -0.99 4.48
26520
TOCOM Platinum 4231.00 -55.00 -1.28 -3.42
13843
TOCOM Silver 50.60 -0.60 -1.17 -2.13
389
TOCOM Palladium 1213.00 -10.00 -0.82 4.12
158
Euro/Dollar 1.2511
Dollar/Yen 87.56
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
