PRECIOUS-Gold falls towards $930, ETF unchanged

                                
 * Gold falls on dollar's extend gains
                                
 * SPDR gold ETF holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> unchanged
                                
 By Miho Yoshikawa
                                
 TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) - Gold extended its decline towards
$930 on Monday as it remained under pressure from a firm dollar
luring funds into other investments.
                                
 Traders said bullion looked vulnerable as it failed to top
the key $1,000 mark in early June on the dollar's rally, which
robbed gold of its appeal as a hedge against the U.S. currency.
Bullion rose as high as $989.80 on June 3.
                                
 "(Gold) looks like it's in a short-term downtrend mode after
the strong rally in the dollar," said Adrian Koh an analyst at
Phillip Futures.
                                
 Gold <XAU=> had fallen 0.4 percent to $934.40 per ounce by
0618 GMT from New York's notional close of $937.90, and was down
5.6 percent from the June high.
                                
 U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> were at $935.20
per ounce, down 0.6 percent from Friday's settlement on the Comex
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
                                
 Koh said he was also waiting for economic data on inflation
to help provide direction.
                                
 "In the U.S. we have the CPI and PPI data later this week ...
and we also have similar figures for the euro zone and UK," he
said.
                                
 The U.S. Producer Price Index's May headline figure is
expected to have increased 0.6 percent month over month, while
the Consumer Price Index for May is seen climbing 0.3 percent.
[ID:nN1496479]
                                
 The dollar rose broadly on Monday as investors took profits
from recent gains in other major currencies that had risen to
multimonth highs on hopes that the economy has seen the worst of
the recession. [USD/]
                                
 Some currency traders said a cautious tone from Group of
Eight finance ministers at a weekend meeting helped temper recent
optimism about the economy, encouraging bets in riskier assets to
be cut further.
                                
 Japan's Nikkei stock average slipped 1 percent, dragged lower
by chipmakers after disappointing guidance from a U.S. peer, as
investors booked profits after the Nikkei rose to an eight-month
high last week. [.T]
                                
 Demand for physical gold remained weak.
                                
 The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings were steady at 1,132.15
tonnes as of June 12, unchanged from the previous business day.
[GOL/SPDR]
                                
 Speculators boosted their holdings of U.S. gold futures with
noncommercial investors net long on 189,674 contracts of gold
futures in the week to June 9, compared to net long positions of
187,340 contracts in the week to June 2. [ID:nN1282010]
 Precious metals prices at 0626 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg  Turnover
 Spot Gold         932.70   -5.20   -0.55     12.01
 Spot Silver        14.49   -0.30   -2.03     -1.90
 Spot Platinum    1228.00  -21.00   -1.68    -19.21
 Spot Palladium    246.00   -4.50   -1.80    -33.15
 TOCOM Gold       2967.00  -52.00   -1.72     -3.04        45378
 TOCOM Platinum   3907.00  -81.00   -2.03    -26.82        13847
 TOCOM Silver      458.40  -23.00   -4.78    -15.27          456
 TOCOM Palladium   789.00  -26.00   -3.19    -41.60          495
 Euro/Dollar       1.3888
 Dollar/Yen         98.55
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
 priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
 (Addtional reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Chris Gallagher)