* Palladium gains 2 percent to 1-week high
* Gold technically neutral with upside bias []
* Coming up: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Q+A; 2010 GMT
(Updates prices; adds graphic)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Gold strengthened on
Wednesday, supported by weakness in the dollar, after the
minutes of a Federal Reserve meeting showed monetary easing
might be needed soon, while palladium rose to its highest level
in a week.
U.S. Federal Reserve officials believed in September the
struggling recovery might soon need more help and they
discussed several ways to provide support, including the
possible adoption of a price-level target, the minutes showed.
[]
The dollar came under broad selling pressure on Wednesday
as investors sold it down in a bid to test key lows against the
euro, the Swiss franc and a basket of currencies. []
Bullion has been trading in a narrow range of less than $20
this week, and is seen to be consolidating after a
record-breaking rally took gold to an all-time high of $1,364.6
last week. Bullish sentiment is intact, traders and analysts
said.
"There's been a lot of positive sentiment run by the dollar
weakness fuelled by the possibility of QE (quantitative
easing)," said Mark Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ,
adding that the accommodating stance in the U.S. monetary
policy would propel precious metals to new record highs.
"The markets are buying on a dip, and pushing things
higher. (For gold), $1,400 is probably on the radar for the
next two to three months. No problem."
Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.4 percent to $1,355.45 an ounce by
0615 GMT, regaining ground lost in the previous session.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> gained 0.7
percent to $1,356.4.
Physical demand remains strong, and scrap selling is
scarce, as market players bet on a further rally in prices,
dealers said.
"We have not seen much gold scrap being sold to the market.
People are waiting for higher prices," said a Hong Kong-based
dealer. "Physical demand is still at a high level."
Gold is technically neutral as it is rangebound between
$1,340 and $1,357, and a further development of the chart is
needed to confirm its next move, said Wang Tao, a Reuters
market analyst. []
For a graphic of the 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20101310064104.jpg
Spot palladium <XPD=> rose as much as 2.3 percent to a
one-week high of $593.50 an ounce, before easing to $588.
The platinum-palladium ratio, or the number of ounces of
palladium used to buy an ounce of platinum, fell to 2.87, its
lowest in more than six years.
For a graphic on the ratio, click:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/AS/0810/RS_20101310122335.jp
g Supporting the sentiment in palladium, Russian miner
Norilsk Nickel <GMKN.MM>, the world's biggest producer of the
metal, said it expected Russian state stocks of palladium to be
depleted next year.[]
Platinum <XPT=> rose 0.6 percent to $1,685.5 an ounce. It
reached a five-month high of $1,725.5 last week.
Precious metals prices at 0615 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1355.45 5.85 +0.43 23.71
Spot Silver 23.40 0.12 +0.52 39.04
Spot Platinum 1685.50 10.50 +0.63 14.89
Spot Palladium 588.00 8.00 +1.38 45.01
TOCOM Gold 3575.00 28.00 +0.79 9.70
34117
TOCOM Platinum 4479.00 22.00 +0.49 2.24
12628
TOCOM Silver 61.90 1.30 +2.15 19.73
1068
TOCOM Palladium 1552.00 15.00 +0.98 33.22
585
Euro/Dollar 1.3962
Dollar/Yen 81.86
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
