* Speculators sell gold to cover losses
* Coming Up: U.S. FOMC rate decision Jan; 1815 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 15 (Reuters) - Gold slid more than 1
percent on Tuesday as declines in stock markets triggered by a
growing nuclear crisis in Japan prompted speculators to sell
bullion to cover losses, while holdings on the ETF fell to their
lowest since May last year.
Silver fell around 3 percent. Platinum and
palladium gave up early gains and dropped more than 1
percent after Japanese shares slumped for a second day on
Tuesday as two fresh explosions rocked a stricken nuclear plant.
Gold lost $10.70 an ounce to $1,415.95 by 0636 GMT,
after rising as much as 1 percent on Monday as Japan battled to
prevent a nuclear catastrophe following last week's devastating
quake and tsunami and on political unrest across the Arab world.
"It still looks like it's constructive. It's just
consolidating. But if we get a large sell-off in equities,
people will tend to sell gold," said Jonathan Barratt, managing
director of Commodity Broking Services in Melbourne.
"But if it's a major concern, then people will eventually go
to gold as the last resort."
Premiums for gold bars were steady at between $1.00 and
$1.50 an ounce with spot London prices in Hong Kong and
Singapore, with no signs of safe-haven buying related to last
week's massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the
subsequent nuclear crisis.
<---------------------------------------------------------
Reports on earthquake in Japan
Factbox on SPDR holdings
PDF of quake impact on commodities:
http://link.reuters.com/bum58r
-------------------------------------------------------->
Japan faces a recovery and reconstruction bill of at least
$180 billion -- 3 percent of its annual economic output -- or
more than 50 percent higher than the total cost of 1995's
earthquake in Kobe.
Japan warned that radioactive levels had become
significantly higher around a quake-stricken nuclear power plant
on Tuesday after explosions at two reactors, and the French
embassy said a low level radioactive wind could reach Tokyo by
the evening.
"The price shot up to above $1,430 but it could not break
through that level. I think that's why the market is down. Also,
ETF holdings seem to be going down again," said a dealer in
Singapore.
"We can say people are selling gold to cover their margin
call."
U.S. gold futures for April fell $8.6 to $1,416.3 an
ounce.
In the Middle East, the United States urged Saudi Arabia on
Monday to show restraint after it sent troops to neighbouring
Bahrain in a move some analysts said showed the limits of
Washington's influence in the region.
The deployment of 1,000 Saudi troops, at the request of
Bahrain's Sunni royal family, came two days after U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates visited the island kingdom and pressed
its rulers to implement political reforms to defuse tensions
with the Shi'ite Muslim majority.
Rising tensions in North Africa and the Middle East helped
bullion strike record around $1,444 last week.
The yen surged on Tuesday after Japan's prime minister said
radiation levels near a quake-hit nuclear plant had become high
and the risk of further nuclear leakage was rising, prompting
investors to dump risky assets.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) said on Monday it would increase
the size of its asset purchase to 10 trillion yen ($122 billion)
from 5 trillion yen and analysts think it may take more steps if
the economic outlook deteriorates further.
The BOJ is even more dovish than the U.S. Federal Reserve,
which has been cautious about seeking to exit its stimulus
policy as it wants to bring down unemployment.
U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers meet on Tuesday and
investors will closely watch the Fed's assessment on
unemployment and the economy in general.
Precious metals prices 0636 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1415.95 -10.70 -0.75 -0.25
Spot Silver 35.12 -0.73 -2.04 13.80
Spot Platinum 1725.24 -24.75 -1.41 -2.39
Spot Palladium 723.22 -16.78 -2.27 -9.54
TOCOM Gold 3731.00 -40.00 -1.06 0.05 70369
TOCOM Platinum 4572.00 -66.00 -1.42 -2.64 33820
TOCOM Silver 92.10 -0.10 -0.11 13.70 2385
TOCOM Palladium 1901.00 -83.00 -4.18 -9.35 1046
Euro/Dollar 1.3937
Dollar/Yen 81.70
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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