* Gold flirts with $1,200, PGMs tumble on equities
* For technical on gold, click []
* Coming Up: U.S. Initial jobless claims Weekly; 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Gold bounced on Thursday on
bargain hunting after a drop the previous day, but a firmer
dollar was likely to cap gains, while falling stock markets
could still prompt investors to sell bullion to cover losses.
Weaker equities and worries about the health of the global
economy sparked selling in platinum to its lowest since July 22
, with sister metal palladium tumbling around 4 percent in thin
trade.
Gold <XAU=> added $2.12 an ounce to $1,199.12 an ounce by
0306 GMT, still hovering below the closely-watched 50-day
moving average. It briefly crossed $1,200 on Thursday but
bullion was well below a lifetime high around $1,264 struck in
June.
For a graphic showing the 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20101208091922.jpg
"I would expect the equity markets continue to sell off. We
may see more gold selling as we've often seen before to cover
those margin calls," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at
Investec Australia in Sydney.
"But then one might question whether or not, given the
uncertainty, we might get more safe haven buying. It's being
pulled both ways, in terms of selling for margin calls, but on
the other hand safe-haven investors will be attracted to gold."
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> rose $3.0 to
$1,202.2 an ounce.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings rose to 1,285.787 tonnes
by Aug. 11 from 1,282.746 tonnes on Aug. 5. The holdings hit a
record at 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29. []
The Nikkei average fell 2 percent after three major Wall
Street indexes on Wednesday posted their worst percentage drops
since July 16 as fears of sustained global economic stagnation
caused investors to flee to safe assets. [] []
Platinum and palladium track equities because of their
industrial use, mostly in autocatalysts, and dealers said
Thursday's drop in prices was a knee-jerk reaction to declines
in Asian stocks. []
"I think we are just reacting to the drop in stock markets,
but there has been some physical buying from jewellers because
of cheaper prices," said a dealer in Hong Kong who trades
platinum.
Commodities consultant CPM Group said recently the platinum
market will see a narrower surplus in 2010 on the back of
strong investment interest during the launch of U.S.
platinum-backed exchange traded funds and a recovering auto
industry. []
The dollar continued to firm after scoring its biggest
daily gain for nearly two years the previous day as concerns
about the U.S. and global economies triggered a wave of
unwinding in short dollar positions. []
Precious metals prices at 0306 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1199.12 2.12 +0.18 9.44
Spot Silver 17.88 0.04 +0.22 6.24
Spot Platinum 1502.25 -43.75 -2.83 2.40
Spot Palladium 458.75 -18.25 -3.83 13.13
TOCOM Gold 3286.00 -15.00 -0.45 0.83
22060
TOCOM Platinum 4146.00 -113.00 -2.65 -5.36
17276
TOCOM Silver 49.60 -1.00 -1.98 -4.06
392
TOCOM Palladium 1256.00 -52.00 -3.98 7.81
356
Euro/Dollar 1.2885
Dollar/Yen 84.98
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
