(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 21 (Reuters) - Gold dipped on Friday in
trade thinned by holidays in key bullion centres in Asia but
the metal held above a 1-month low hit the previous day, with
dealers expecting bargain hunters to resurface at lower levels.
Gold <XAU=> eased to $916.10/916.90 an ounce from
$920.30/921.10 ounce late in New York but off a 1-month low at
$904.65 struck on Thursday when funds cashed in bullion to
cover losses in other financial markets.
Gold has lost around 10 percent in value since racing to an
historical high of $1,030.80 an ounce on Monday. Markets in
Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and India were closed for Good
Friday.
"It isn't clear whether this is a dead cat bounce or fresh
buying signals. If $903 holds, sharp gains are possible in the
coming sessions and we could even see levels beyond $970,"
Pradeep Unni, analyst at Vision Commodities in Dubai said in a
note.
"If $903 breaks then next support is at $876, which
coincides with the channel break target," he said.
The dollar inched lower against the euro on Friday but held on
to much of the gains it made the previous day when investors
sold commodities including oil and gold and repatriated cash
back into the dollar. []
Precious metals, oil, grains and agricultural products have
tumbled this week in a wave of selling as funds cashed out,
taking profits at record high prices.
But dealers said the long-term outlook for gold remained
bright because of strong investor interest in the metal used as
a hedge against inflation and expectations of more interest
rate cuts in the United States in April.
"The situation is quite unchanged. As for gold, ETF buying
is very strong and it is a good support," said Yukuji Sonoda,
precious metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
Gold held by New York-listed StreetTRACKS Gold Shares
<GLD.P> <XAUEXT-NYS-TT>, the world's largest gold-backed ETF,
hit a record high of 663.83 tonnes this week.
"Supply in South Africa is not so good and demand from the
automobile sector is strong," said Sonoda, referring to
fundamentals in platinum.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $1,850/1,860 an ounce from
$1,855/1,875 an ounce. It struck a record at $2,290 an ounce on
March 4 on fund buying after a powercrisis disrupted mining in
main producer South Africa.
The global platinum market is likely to witness a huge
deficit this year and in 2009 as apower crisis in top producer
South Africa hits output, whileindustrial demand remains
strong, a Reuters survey showed. []
Silver <XAG=> edged up to $16.95/17.00 an ounce from
$16.86/16.91 an ounce. It hit an intraday low of $16.75 an
ounce on Friday, its lowest since Feb. 8.
Spot palladium <XPD=> was unchanged at $438/443 an ounce.
Tokyo gold and platinum futures fell by their daily limits
as they played catch up with a plunge in commodities markets.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange was closed on Thursday for a
national holiday.
The benchmark gold contract for February 2009 delivery
<0#JAU:> fell by the 150 yen a gram limit to 3,017 yen. The key
platinum contract for February 2009 delivery <0#JPL:> tumbled
by the 300 yen a gram limit to 5,745 yen.
Precious metals prices at 0147 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 919.00 9.40 +1.03 10.36
Spot Silver 16.95 0.18 +1.07 14.76
Spot Platinum 1850.00 -5.00 -0.27 21.71
Spot Palladium 438.00 0.00 +0.00 19.02
TOCOM Gold 3017.00 -150.00 -4.74 -1.41
2110
TOCOM Platinum 5745.00 -300.00 -4.96 7.60
1227
TOCOM Silver 595.60 -40.00 -6.29 10.09
48
TOCOM Palladium 1417.00 -100.00 -6.59 4.89
379
Euro/Dollar 1.5415
Dollar/Yen 99.41
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
