* Gold rebounds from lows but still below 18-month highs
* Euro rebounds against dollar, having fallen 0.15 pct
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on Tuesday as
bargain hunters resurfaced after the price dropped to its
weakest in almost a week the previous day, and the U.S. dollar
gave up some gains ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting on
interest rates.
Worries that speculators who have built up extremely long
positions in New York would liquidate, plus the impact of the
IMF's plan to sell gold, were still at the back of investors'
minds, but lower prices could also attract buying from
jewellers.
Trading was muted in Asia, with Japanese investors away on
holiday, while the movement of the dollar ahead of the Fed's
two-day meeting and a Group of 20 summit, were likely to set
the tone for gold prices.
Gold <XAU=> was quoted at $1,006.55 an ounce, up $4.00 from
New York's notional close on Monday, when a rally in the dollar
dragged it down to $995.50, its lowest since Sept. 15, in
volatile trade.
"It isn't surprising to see, when we do get a little bit of
uncertainty, that people take profits off the tables," said
Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia in
Sydney.
"But generally, for the moment, the trend looks like it's
still continuing upwards. And I guess as we head towards the
wedding season, the physical demand is going to pick up as
well."
Bullion was nearly 2 percent below last week's 18-month
high of $1,023.85 an ounce after attempts to breach last year's
record around $1,030 an ounce were foiled by profit-taking.
But lower prices could attract buying from main consumer
India, where weddings take place during the current festive
season, which peaks in October with Diwali, the Hindu festival
of lights.
The euro <EUR=> inched up to $1.4718, having fallen to as
low as $1.46 on Monday. []. Major currencies may be subdued
against the dollar as markets await the outcome of the G20
meeting [] and the Fed's policy meeting on
Wednesday [].
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to hold rates
steady but markets want to know if there are signs that the
super-accommodative policy stance will be wound back, given a
recent pick-up in economic data.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> added $3.40
an ounce at $1,008.30 on the COMEX division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange, having dropped to a near 1-week low of
$996.3 on Monday on worries about fund selling.
"I would think gold should be able to correct itself
downward unless there are factors or events in favour of an
increase in prices. The market is too long," said a dealer in
Singapore.
"I seriously think it may come down," he said.
The noncommercial net long position in gold futures on the
COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange stood at an
all-time high of 235,647 lots for the week ended Sept. 15, data
from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
[]
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,101.735
tonnes as of Sept 21, up from 1,086.479 tonnes the previous
day. <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> []
Precious metals prices at 0505 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30
RSI Spot gold $1006.55 $4.00 +0.40% +12.21% $860.10
63
Spot silver $16.95 $0.15 +0.89% +41.49% $11.29
66
Spot plat $1321.00 $5.50 +0.42% -0.45% $1276.53
62
COMEX gold $1007.40 $3.50 +0.35% -0.20% $972.37
62
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.471 $0.003 +0.18% +0.04%
Dlr/yen 91.71 0.25 +0.27% +0.47%
(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
(lewa.pardomuan@thomson reuters.com; +65 6870 3834; Reuters
Messaging: lewa.pardomuan.reuters.com@reuters.net))
