(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Gold inched up on Monday
with the help of bargain hunters, but gains may be capped by
oil's fall to below $105 a barrel, which robbed the metal of
some of its appeal as a hedge against inflation.
Gold <XAU=> edged up to $932.60/933.40 an ounce from
$931.80/932.60 an ounce late in the U.S. market on Friday, when
it dropped more than 2 percent on falling crude oil.
Gold has lost more than 9 percent in value since spiking to
an all-time high of $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17. Record high
oil and expectations of further interest rate cuts in the
United States have propelled bullion to a lifetime high.
But analysts said gold's fundamentals were intact amid
supply constraints -- heightened recently by a power crisis
that has disrupted mining in South Africa, the world's main
platinum producer and the second-largest gold producer after
China.
"We have very strong supply and demand fundamentals. It
takes two, three or four years to build a mine, so you can't
just turn a tap and produce more commodities," said Evy Hambro,
managing director at BlackRock Merrill Lynch Investment
Managers.
"We expect commodity prices to remain at high levels. I
would say the gold prices are going to continue to be in a
positive direction. Supply-side constraints will also continue
to support the price of of gold and other commodities," he told
a news conference.
Gold futures for June delivery <GCM8> on the COMEX division
of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $1.3 an ounce to
$937.8 an ounce, having fallen 1.83 percent at the close on
Friday.
Dealers awaited Friday's jobs report, in which U.S.
employers are expected to have cut payrolls for a third
straight month during March. The data offer may offer more
clues on the on the state of the economy and the outlook for
interest rates
"We can say there's some bargain hunters at $930 and below.
It attracts some buying interest. There seems to be a little
bit physical buying at the low," said Ronald Leung, director of
Lee Cheong in Hong Kong.
"I think the upside is $935. I don't expect much activity,"
said Leung, who pegged support at $925 an ounce.
Oil <CLc1> fell more than $1 after the restart of a crude
pipeline system in Iraq eased fears of an extended exports
disruption from the country's oil-rich south. []
In currencies, the dollar inched up against a basket of
currencies as many investors closed their books for the
business year and awaited more clues on the health of the U.S
economy from data due later this week.
The dollar edged up to 99.90 yen <JPY=> from late U.S.
trade on Friday. It had jumped to 100.20 yen from a low of
98.80 yen touched earlier in the session on electronic trading
platform EBS.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $2,018/2,028 an ounce from
$2,000/2,010 an ounce. It jumped to its highest in more than a
week at $2,040 on Friday on speculative buying as supply fears
lingered in South Africa.
The most active Tokyo platinum futures <0#JPL:> fell 35 yen
per gram to 6,355 yen as speculators closed their books for the
fiscal year.
Silver <XAG=> eased to $17.84/17.89 an ounce from
$17.88/17.93 an ounce. Spot palladium <XPD=> fell to $440/445
an ounce from $441/445.
Precious metals prices at 0522 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 932.60 2.60 +0.28 12.00
Spot Silver 17.80 -0.08 -0.45 20.51
Spot Platinum 2017.00 17.00 +0.85 32.70
Spot Palladium 440.00 -1.00 -0.23 19.57
TOCOM Gold 3016.00 -36.00 -1.18 -1.44
33511
TOCOM Platinum 6354.00 -36.00 -0.56 19.01
9870
TOCOM Silver 577.90 -11.40 -1.93 6.82
831
TOCOM Palladium 1451.00 -4.00 -0.27 7.40
1802
Euro/Dollar 1.5790
Dollar/Yen 99.66
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)
