* Gold drops on selling by Chinese holders, Aussie bankers
* Nikkei slips 1.5 pct on earnings gloom
* Oil down to around $41 a barrel despite strike threats
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Gold fell more than 2 percent
on Monday after rallying to a near four-month high around $930
an ounce last week, led by selling from speculators in China
and bankers in Australia, dealers said.
Gold rose 5.6 percent in January, its third consecutive
monthly rise, partly driven by flight-to-quality buying after
funds poured more money into bullion as an investment instead
of other asset classes such as stocks and treasuries.
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $908.45 an ounce, down $18.55
from New York's notional close. Bullion rallied more than 2
percent to hit a high of $930.40 on Friday -- its strongest
since Oct. 10, when it hit $931, its highest in more than two
months.
"It's profit taking and we also heard the Chinese are also
behind the fall," said a dealer in Singapore.
A Tokyo-based physical dealer said: "There's selling by
Australian bankers. People also thought the drop in price was
caused by the Chinese."
But dealers said sentiment remained positive after the
recent rally spurred interest from hedge and commodity funds as
well as retail investors amid turmoil in the financial sector.
Facing opposition from Republican lawmakers to parts of his
economic recovery plan, President Barack Obama called
Congressional leaders to a meeting on Monday to drive home his
message of urgency. []
"I am bullish but I am waiting for prices to move above
$930 to turn more bullish. That seems like the key level to
look at," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip Futures in
Singapore, referring to the recent highs.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said it held arecord 843.59 tonnes of
gold on Jan. 29, up 10.71 tonnes fromJan. 27, as gold's recent
rally attracted buying from funds and investors. []
Speculative gold players in the non-commercial category
boosted their net long positions to 141,114 lots on gold
futures traded on COMEX at Jan 27, up from 123,937 net long
lots at Jan. 20, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data
showed.
But the physical sector remained slow, with jewellers
staying on the sidelines because of high prices. India's gold
futures hit an all-time high on Friday, tracking strong global
markets and support from a weak rupee. []
India is the world's largest gold consumer and the
jewellery sector accounts for almost 70 percent of global
bullion demand.
"From the physicals' perspective, prices are getting more
expensive, so buyers will be more inclined to hold back first.
Jewellery buying is lower on higher prices from places like
India and perhaps also due to the effects of the global
economic crisis," said Koh of Phillip Futures.
"But when we take a look at the investment demand for gold,
it still looks firm," he said.
In other markets, the Nikkei stock average <> fell 1.5
percent as Hitachi Ltd <6501.T> plunged after it warned of a
record $7.8 billion loss on weak sales, a firmer yen and
restructuring costs amid growing global economic gloom. []
The euro <EUR=> fell as low as $1.2710 on trading platform
EBS, its weakest since early December, after data showed a
worsening labour market and receding inflation. []
Oil <CLc1> slipped to around $41 a barrel despite threats
of major strikes by refinery workers in the United States.
[]
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $965.00 an ounce, down
$20.50 from New York's notional close.
PRICES Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago
pct MA 30 RSI
Spot gold $908.45 -$18.55 -2.00% +1.28% $860.10
76
Spot silver $12.36 -$0.27 -2.14% +3.17% $11.29
83
Spot plat $965.00 -$20.50 -2.08% -2.08% $958.30
69
COMEX gold $909.00 -$18.70 -2.02% +0.36% $862.92
74
TOCOM gold 2,623 -9 -0.34% +2.90% 2,493
66
TOCOM plat 2,787 -7 -0.25% +1.60% 2,685
58 Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.272 -$0.041 -3.16% -3.46%
Dlr/yen 89.60 -0.78 -0.86% +0.76%
(Editing by Ben Tan)
