* Gold softens below record, physical buying limited
* Technicals point downward to $1,268/oz []
* Coming Up: U.S. Consumer confidence Sep; 1400 GMT
By Maytaal Angel
LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Gold fell on Tuesday as a
recovery in the U.S. dollar weighed and as investors took
profits after bidding the metal up to a record $1,300 an ounce
in the previous session.
Silver was off a 30-year high, while platinum and palladium
tracked stock markets lower. [] []
Spot gold <XAU=> traded at $1,289.20 an ounce at 0955 GMT
versus $1,296.05 late in New York on Monday, having struck a
record on concerns over the global economic recovery and a
weaker dollar.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> fell $6.5 to
$1,292 an ounce. The contract high on Monday was below the
record at $1,301.60 set on Friday. []
"There is some profit taking setting in (and) the fears over
Ireland, fears of a further crisis in the eurozone periphery is
weighing on the euro and also on gold," said Quantitative
Commodity analyst Peter Fertig.
He added, however, that just as with the Greek debt crisis
earlier this year, gold will only follow the euro lower for a
short time, before investors return to bullion as a perceived
safe haven asset.
For a 24-hour technical outlook on gold, see:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20102809084525.jpg
The struggling dollar earned a breather on Tuesday, helped
by a report the U.S. Federal Reserve was weighing a
smaller-scale, more open-ended bond buying programme compared to
its previous large asset purchase scheme. []
Still, many traders expect the greenback's downtrend to stay
intact, taking the view that any future quantitative easing (QE)
by the Fed, even in a modest form, would probably still be more
aggressive than moves by other central banks.
A weak dollar makes dollar-priced gold cheaper for non-U.S.
investors and enhances the appeal of bullion as an alternative
asset to the U.S. currency.
"A lot of gains in the last week and a half have been driven
by a weak U.S. dollar. There is a reasonable chance to expect
the dollar to rebound mildly of a low base," said Mark Pervan,
senior commodities analyst at ANZ.
"And that will certainly trigger some selling as well in the
gold market."
POISED TO BENEFIT
Investors will closely scrutinise U.S. data releases this
week, including manufacturing purchasing manager indexes for a
number of key economies and a U.S. core inflation reading due on
Friday.
Gold is poised to benefit if the data fails to allay fears
over the health of the global economy, especially given worries
over Ireland's debt and fresh speculation that Spain may be
downgraded by Moody's. []
"I expect gold will make new highs, not necessarily this
week but during the final quarter of this year, driven by the
threat of quantitative easing and more demand from the jewellery
industry," said Fertig.
The physical market in Asia was calm on Tuesday however,
despite the lower gold price, after seeing good physical demand
from top consumer India the previous day when gold hit a record
high. []
In industry news, delegates polled at the London Bullion
Market Association annual conference see no end to the rally in
gold any time soon. []
For a Take-a-look at the LBMA conference in Berlin, click:
[]
In other precious metals, silver <XAG=> was at $21.26 an
ounce versus $21.38, off a 30-year-peak of $21.61 hit on Monday.
The London Metal Exchange and LCH.Clearnet said on Tuesday
they aim to introduce a clearing service for over-the-counter
trading in silver next year, following the launch of their gold
clearing service in November. []
Platinum <XPT=> was at $1,613 versus $1,594.00 while
palladium <XPD=> was at $543.50 versus $455.50.
(Editing by James Jukwey)
