(Updates prices, adds quotes and premiums)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Gold crept up on Tuesday,
with crude oil hovering near a record high, but investors were
cautious after the metal failed to hold above $950 an ounce.
Platinum dropped more than 1 percent to below $2,000 as
profit taking persisted since a spike to a one-month high last
week, dragging down the price of sister metal palladium. Silver
edged up to track firmer gold.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $915.50/916.50 an ounce from
$913.80/914.60 late in New York on Monday, aided by purchases
at lower levels by jewellery makers.
"Investors have been cautious about gold's short-term
outlook," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold
Dealers in Hong Kong.
"I think gold is still in the same wide range of $850 to
$950. For the time being, $900 should be the good support.
We've seen a little bit of physical buying at these levels."
Gold rallied to a three-week high of $952.60 on April 17
before profit taking kicked in and dragged down prices to as
low as $904.35 the following day. It has lost more than 10
percent in value since hitting a lifetime high of $1,030.80 on
March 17.
Oil <CLc1> held near record high above $117 per barrel,
driven by supply threats after rebel attacks on pipelines in
Nigeria. Firm oil lifts gold's appeal as an inflation hedge.
"Physical people have started buying at these levels. We
are looking at demand from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam but
it's not great. I think people possibly wait for a drop below
$900," said a dealer in Singapore.
Gold bars were offered at a premium of 60 U.S. cents to the
spot London prices in Singapore, steady from last week.
<GOLD/ASIA1>.
"I guess the upside for gold is limited, even with oil
above $117. That's because there's no follow through above
$950," said another dealer in Singapore.
"Platinum is very volatile given the wide spreads. I think
all precious metals will trade lower this week but the
long-term outlook is still bullish," he said.
The euro was steady at $1.5910 <EUR=>, not far from the
record high of $1.5985 hit last week. The dollar eased to
102.95 yen <JPY=> -- off last week's seven-weak peak of 104.66
yen hit.
Gold has gained on speculative buying spurred by record
high oil prices and expectations of further interest rate cuts
in the United States, which has reduced the dollar's appeal.
Platinum roared to a record high of $2,290 an ounce on
March 4 on supply concerns after a power shortage disrupted
mining in main producer South Africa.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $1,980/1,990 an ounce from
$2,005/2,015 late in New York. The most active Tokyo platinum
futures <0#JPL:> dropped 226 yen per gram to 6,381 yen to track
a weak cash market.
Silver <XAG=> edged up to $17.42/17.48 an ounce from
$17.39/17.44 an ounce. Palladium <XPD=> fell slightly to
$449/454 an ounce from $450/454 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0402 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 915.50 1.70 +0.19 9.94
Spot Silver 17.42 0.03 +0.17 17.94
Spot Platinum 1982.00 -23.00 -1.15 30.39
Spot Palladium 449.00 -1.00 -0.22 22.01
TOCOM Gold 3057.00 -32.00 -1.04 -0.10
28910
TOCOM Platinum 6400.00 -207.00 -3.13 19.87
19569
TOCOM Silver 583.20 -16.20 -2.70 7.80
610
TOCOM Palladium 1521.00 -26.00 -1.68 12.58
783
Euro/Dollar 1.5912
Dollar/Yen 103.00
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
