PRECIOUS-Gold dips below $940/oz, ETF holdings at record

                                
 * Adjustment from recent rally intact before U.S. holiday
                                
 * Psychological barrier noted at $950/oz
                                
 * SPDR Gold Trust holdings rise to record above 980 tonnes
 (Updates prices, adds platinum)
                                
 By Risa Maeda
                                
 TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Gold extended losses on Monday as
investors booked profits from a recent rally to above $950 an
ounce, but the metal's allure as a safe-haven asset remained as
uncertainty continues to cloud the global economic outlook.
                                
 Gold jumped to $951.80 on Feb. 12, its strongest since
July, on the back of an increase in demand from investors
seeking alternative investment to equities and other
conventional assets.
                                
 Spot gold <XAU=> was trading at $937.00 as of 0649 GMT,
down 0.3 percent from New York's notional close on Friday, when
it fell 0.8 percent.
                                
 "Given the U.S. holiday today, long liquidation is in
progress," said Shuji Sugata, manager at Mitsubishi Corp
Futures and Securities' research team.
                                
 "Speculators have now halted buying, the non-ETF sector,
such as the jewellery industry, has lost its appetite at the
current high level, and gold has a psychological barrier of
$950," he added.
                                
 Markets are closed in the United States for the President's
Day holiday.
                                
 The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings hit a record 985.86
tonnes as of Feb. 13, up 15.29 tonnes, or 1.6 percent, from the
previous day. [GOL/SPDR]
                                
 The holdings are up more than 200 tonnes this year.
                                
 Spot platinum <XPT=> tracked gold to fall to $1,057.50 an
ounce, down 0.2 percent from its notional close on Friday.
                                
 The metal, used in autocatalysts to clean car emissions, is
expected to stay under pressure as there is little chance of
immediate recovery in global automobile sales.
                                
 In the United States, General Motors Corp <GM.N> and
Chrysler <CBS.UL> are required to submit new turnaround plans
by Tuesday showing how they can be made viable after receiving
$13.4 billion in emergency aid. [ID:nN15262095]
                                
 In other markets, the yen rose against other major
currencies on Monday after Group of Seven finance ministers
made no specific reference at their weekend meeting to the
Japanese currency's strength. [USD/]
                                
 The euro fell 0.8 percent to $1.2760 <EUR=> on media
reports about financial troubles in Eastern Europe and Russia
and amid signs of further weakness in the euro zone economy.
                                
 OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said in an interview
with Reuters on Saturday the body is preparing to cut its
growth outlook for the euro zone to below the most recent
forecasts of organisations such as the IMF and the European
Commission. [ID:nLE145174]
                                
 But a weakening euro versus the dollar has had little
impact on gold, traders said.
                                
 A fall in the euro is traditionally negative to gold, which
is often seen as an alternative to the U.S. dollar. But gold
has now gained favour as investors would rather avoid the
volatile European single currency.
                                
 "A positive correlation between gold and the euro has been
lost. Especially this month, it is clear that the two are
negatively correlated. That's because a fall in the euro
underlined investor worries over unstable outlook of the global
economy," Sugata said.
                                
 In the long run, traders say, gold is a buy as there are
inflation concerns given the large amounts of money being
pumped into the global economy by central banks and governments
to boost growth and confidence.
                                
 Investors expecting years of inflation and global economic
instability are pouring money into securities backed by gold
bullion, helping to turn a simple safe haven into a mainstream
asset class. [ID:nN13342040]
                                
 Speculative gold players in the non-commercial category
boosted their net long positions to 163,622 lots on gold
futures traded on COMEX at Feb. 10, up 5 percent from 155,306
net long lots at Feb. 3. [ID:nN132365]
 Precious metals prices at 0713 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg
Turnover
 Spot Gold         937.30   -2.10   -0.22     12.56
 Spot Silver        13.54   -0.08   -0.59     -8.33
 Spot Platinum    1058.00   -1.50   -0.14    -30.39
 Spot Palladium    214.50    0.50   +0.23    -41.71
 TOCOM Gold       2771.00   10.00   +0.36     -9.44      
26610
 TOCOM Platinum   3120.00   -5.00   -0.16    -41.56       
7065
 TOCOM Silver      394.80    3.90   +1.00    -27.02        
253
 TOCOM Palladium   631.00   -6.00   -0.94    -53.29        
153
 Euro/Dollar       1.2754
 Dollar/Yen         91.62
 Spot in $ per ounce, TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except
TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams.
 (Additional reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Ben Tan)