* Gold extends losses, hovers well below 18-month high
* SPDR holdings unchanged, dollar steady against euro
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Gold slipped further on
Monday after failing to revisit last year's record around
$1,030 an ounce, with sluggish offtake from jewellers across
Asia stepping up the selling pressure.
Gold rallied to $1,023.85 on Thursday, its strongest since
March 2008, on uncertainties over the sustainability of the
global economic recovery, but the dollar's rebound from a
1-year low against the euro eventually spurred selling.
Spot gold <XAU=> was quoted at $1,004.25 an ounce by 0214
GMT, down $1.90 from New York's notional close on Friday.
Bullion has gained as much as 16 percent this year.
"I think investors are probably a bit cautious. We've got
here, where does it go next? Some people might sort of view now
the upside from here has been more limited," said David Moore,
commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"I am a bit of a bear on gold. I think gold would go back
under $1,000. I think the physical demand for gold is still
very weak. When investors start to look elsewhere, I think the
gold price will fall back."
Trading was muted in Asia, with Japanese markets closed for
a long holiday. The physical market in Singapore was also
closed for a Muslim holiday.
The U.S. dollar was steady against the euro <EUR=> in thin
trade on Monday, after staging a rebound late last week on
short covering ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meet on
interest rates and a Group of 20 summit. []
The Federal Open Market Committee is likely to hold rates
steady at the meeting, which starts on Tuesday but markets want
to know if there are signs that the super-accommodative policy
stance will be wound back, given a pick up in economic data.
"If you look at the chart, gold has been consolidating in
recent days. Of course some short-term hedge funds will unload
part of their positions but I don't think they will turn market
sentiment around," said a dealer in Hong Kong.
"Unless there's heavy selling pressure from overseas
players, I don't think gold will break $1,000 in Asia," he
said.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> fell $4.30
an ounce at $1,006 on the COMEX division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
The noncommercial net long position in gold futures on
COMEX stood at an all-time high of 235,647 lots for the week
to
Sept. 15, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
showed. []
Gold markets shrugged off the IMF's plan for limited sales
of 403.3 tonnes of gold from its stockpile. []
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood unchanged at
1,086.479 tonnes on Sept. 18. <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> []
Precious metals prices at 0214 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30 RSI
Spot gold $1004.25 -$1.90 -0.19% +11.96% $860.10
42
Spot silver $16.76 -$0.20 -1.18% +39.90% $11.29
69
Spot plat $1325.00 -$2.00 -0.15% +0.04% $1274.15
67
COMEX gold $1004.70 -$4.70 -0.47% -0.78% $970.37
66
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.470 $0.001 +0.07% -0.07%
Dlr/yen 91.46 0.00 +0.00% +0.20%
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
