* Gold rises further on weakness in equities
* Nikkei ends up, having fallen earlier on economy worries
* Platinum down 3 percent, demand worries resurface
* Oil softens, euro dips against dollar
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Gold gained more than 1
percent on Wednesday after declines in stock markets and
renewed fears the global economy could be tilting into
recession prompted speculators to buy the metal as an
alternative investment.
Platinum dropped more than 3 percent as worries about
demand resurfaced -- just one day after speculators and retail
investors in Japan pushed up the price to its strongest in two
weeks, above $1,000 an ounce.
Gold <XAU=> traded at $844.05 an ounce, up $8.80 from New
York's notional close. It jumped more than 2 percent to a high
of $853.50 on Tuesday, but trimmed gains after the United
States unveiled plans to take stakes in its biggest banks.
"Buying should ideally emerge on dips but gold would need
to clear $870 to sustain the bullish trend. Technically as long
as $823 holds the bulls are safe, but gains would be slow and
steady," said analyst Pradeep Unni at Richcomm Global Services.
Gold, still below a record high of $1,030.80 hit in March,
traded around $870 earlier this week and struck a two-month
high of $931 last week before losing some of the gains to
rallies in equities.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 2.24 percent and is down 12 percent so far
in October. The Nikkei <> ended up after falling earlier
on worries about the global economy.
Volatile gold prices blunted buying appetite in India, the
world's largest consumer, ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival
of lights, at the end of October. Investors, who normally take
profits when prices soar, were also on the sidelines.
"They are waiting because they think the market will rise even
further because of the global crisis. They think gold prices
may touch $1,000," said Girish Choksi, a dealer based in the
western gold-trading city of Ahmedabad.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its bullion holdings slipped on
Oct. 14 by 3.06 tonnes to 767.58 tonnes, which suggested some
investors booked profits from gold's recent gains. []
In other markets, oil fell towards $78 on recession fears,
which could potentially cap gains in gold []. The euro
slipped 0.2 percent against the dollar to $1.3589. []
Platinum <XPT=> traded at $983.50 an ounce, down $24.00 an
ounce from New York's notional close, having hit a low of $982.
It rallied to a two-week high of $1,040 on Tuesday, mainly due
to buying from investors in Japan.
A 5-percent decline in Tokyo platinum futures <0#JPL:> also
ignited selling. More than 60 percent of global platinum use
goes to autocalysts to clean exhaust fumes.
"The problems in General Motor are not settled yet. That's
why platinum is not so strong," said Yukuji Sonoda, a precious
metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo, adding that
trading houses were also seen selling back platinum.
Labor unions in the United States and Canada expressed
concern about the prospect of job losses from any merger
between General Motors Corp <GM.N> and Chrysler LLC, adding
that the automakers had not consulted union leaders.
[]
New York gold futures <GCZ8> rose $7.5 an ounce to $847.0.
Precious metals prices at 0610 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 844.05 8.80 +1.05 1.36
Spot Silver 10.96 0.01 +0.09 -25.80
Spot Platinum 993.50 -24.00 -2.36 -34.64
Spot Palladium 197.00 2.00 +1.03 -46.47
TOCOM Gold 2761.00 0.00 +0.00 -9.77
29910
TOCOM Platinum 3270.00 -119.00 -3.51 -38.75
16732
TOCOM Silver 356.00 2.00 +0.56 -34.20
810
TOCOM Palladium 654.00 -20.00 -2.97 -51.59
228
Euro/Dollar 1.3611
Dollar/Yen 101.77
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Biman Mukherji in New Delhi; Editing
by Michael Urquhart)
