SINGAPORE, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Gold firmed on Thursday,
within sight of its highest in nearly three weeks hit the
previous day, but safe-haven flows into the metal could be
capped by hopes the European Central Bank and the United
States would step in to support debt-burdened euro-zone
countries.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold added 80 cents to $1,388.15 an
ounce by 0036 GMT after rising as high as $1,396.70 on
Wednesday -- its strongest since Nov. 12. Bullion was still
below a lifetime high around $1,424 struck in early November.
* U.S. gold futures for February rose $1.4 an ounce
to at $1,389.7 an ounce.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings rose to 1,293.891
tonnes by Dec 1 from 1,286.603 tonnes on Nov 29. The holdings
hit a record at 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29.
* The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund,
iShares Silver Trust , said its holdings rose to
10,782.69 tonnes by Dec 1 from 10,711.23 tonnes by Nov 26.
The holdings jumped to an all-time high of 10,893.68 tonnes
on Nov 23.[]
* The ECB is under pressure to unveil new steps to
stabilize the euro zone when it meets on Thursday as the
currency bloc battles a crippling debt crisis that has stoked
contagion fears in the United States and Asia. []
* A U.S. official also told Reuters that Washington would
support boosting an EU rescue facility via IMF funds, news
that bolstered the euro currency.
MARKET NEWS
* The euro held on to overnight gains early in Asia on
Thursday, having posted its biggest one-day rise in six weeks
in a dramatic turnaround as the market cut short positions
ahead of the European Central Bank policy meeting.
* Japan's Nikkei share average rose 2 percent to a
fresh five-month high on Thursday, after Wall Street gained
the most in three months on talk of bold steps to resolve the
EU's debt crisis.
(GMT) DATA/EVENTS
0000 Australia ABARE commodities outlook
1100 Brazil Industrial Output y/y Oct
1245 EZ ECB rate decision Dec
1330 U.S. Initial Claims Weekly
1500 U.S. Pending home sales Oct
1530 U.S. EIA natural gas stocks Weekly
:: U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Nov
RELATED NEWS
> U.S. would back bigger EU stability fund- source
> US private employers add jobs, manufacturing
grows
> Banking giants leaned heavily on Fed in crisis
> Japan capex up 5.0%, up 1st time since 2007 -MOF
> US deficit panel recalibrates, seeks more support
> Top US officer presses China over N.Korea
> US Nov auto sales rise, recovery gains ground
> CFTC sets out swap dealer rules; feared too broad
> US won't allow drilling in Atlantic, off Florida
> U.S. initiates post-WikiLeaks security crackdown
Precious metals prices at 0036 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1388.15 0.80 +0.06 26.69
Spot Silver 28.47 0.03 +0.11 69.16
Spot Platinum 1683.74 1.00 +0.06 14.77
Spot Palladium 729.97 -1.52 -0.21 80.02
TOCOM Gold 3762.00 14.00 +0.37 15.43 36281
TOCOM Platinum 4605.00 83.00 +1.84 5.11 8115
TOCOM Silver 77.10 0.80 +1.05 49.13 1029
TOCOM Palladium 1983.00 88.00 +4.64 70.21 905
Euro/Dollar 1.3114
Dollar/Yen 84.13
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Reuters Terminal users can see related news and prices by
double clicking on the codes in brackets:
- All precious metals headlines
- Precious metals market reports
- Daily fixing headlines
- Technical analysis
- Indian gold reports
- European gold prices <0#PREC>
- London interbank gold forward rates <0#GOFO=>
- London silver forwards
- Gold lease rates <0#LGLR=>
- London Bullion Market Association
- New York Comex gold <0#GC:> and silver <0#SI:>
- New York platinum <0#PL:> and palladium <0#PA:>
- Asian gold prices <0#PREC>
- Australian precious metals prices <0#AUPREC=>
- Shanghai Gold Exchange prices
- Hong Kong gold exchange prices
- Hong Kong bullion prices
- Indian bullion prices <0#PREC-IN>
- Japanese producer prices
For Related News and other topics, double click on one of these
codes:
SPEED GUIDES
> Europe pins hopes on ECB to ease debt crisis
> U.S. would back bigger EU stability fund- source
> US private employers add jobs, manufacturing
grows
> Banking giants leaned heavily on Fed in crisis
> Japan capex up 5.0%, up 1st time since 2007 -MOF
> US deficit panel recalibrates, seeks more support
> Top US officer presses China over N.Korea
> US Nov auto sales rise, recovery gains ground
> CFTC sets out swap dealer rules; feared too broad
> US won't allow drilling in Atlantic, off Florida
> U.S. initiates post-WikiLeaks security crackdown
