* Gold steadies on bargain hunting but weak oil weighs
* Oil slips for third straight day on recession fears
* Nikkei ends at two-week low
(Updates prices)
SINGAPORE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Thursday on
bargain hunting after falling more than 2 percent in New York,
but recession worries which had sent oil prices and equities
down could ignite fresh selling from speculators.
Goldman Sachs said it had lowered its forecasts for the price
of gold in a three-, six- and 12-month time horizon because it
expects continued financial market deleveraging to further
strengthen the U.S. dollar. []
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $713.80 an ounce, up $2.65 or
0.37 percent from New York's notional close on Wednesday, when
it fell as low as $707.80, its weakest since Oct. 27, as
investors dumped risky assets including gold and stocks.
Bullion has lost more than 30 percent in value since
hitting record at $1,030.80 in March, with losses in equities
also forcing investors to cash in to cover losses.
"Gold is not immune to the general panic in other markets
and hence will gyrate in line with the general sentiment,"
said
analyst Pradeep Unni at Richcomm Global Services.
"Supports aren't strong enough to drag fresh buying and
huge volatility is keeping many investors at bay. The
uncertainty with respect to U.S. bailout plan is exaggerating
the fear," he said.
The Nikkei <> slid 5.3 percent to a two-week closing
low on Thursday after Wall Street shares plunged as the U.S.
Treasury backed away from using its $700 billion financial
bailout to buy bad mortgages. []
Oil dropped for a third straight day to hit a 22-month low
of $55 a barrel as pessimism about the global economy
overshadowed OPEC's comments that it could cut output again as
early as end-November. []
"The stock market and currencies are the focus as investors
try to gauge the state of the real economy," said Koji Suzuki,
a senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd, adding that investors
were showing a strong aversion to parking their money in risky
assets.
"Investor sentiment is really chilly at the moment," he
said.
Selling pressure could come from hedge funds as the
year-end nears and they begin to adjust their positions, which
often prompts selling of the precious metal to raise cash, he
said.
In currencies, the yen retreated from a two-week high
against the euro as short-term players locked in profits, while
the euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.2461 <EUR=> after slipping to
$1.2435. []
Chinese investors' demand for gold has risen as investment
hit 38.4 tonnes in the first nine months of this year against
24 tonnes for the whole of 2007, said the president of China
National Gold Corp conference on Wednesday. []
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $802.50 ounce, down $7.50
from New York's notional close on Wednesday.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> fell $5.3 an ounce to $713.0.
Precious metals prices at 0720 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 713.80 2.65 +0.37 -14.28
Spot Silver 9.25 -0.04 -0.43 -37.37
Spot Platinum 802.50 -7.50 -0.93 -47.20
Spot Palladium 205.50 -4.50 -2.14 -44.16
TOCOM Gold 2194.00 -132.00 -5.67 -28.30
47960
TOCOM Platinum 2475.00 -174.00 -6.57 -53.64
20196
TOCOM Silver 285.20 -24.20 -7.82 -47.28
583
TOCOM Palladium 648.00 -58.00 -8.22 -52.04
494
Euro/Dollar 1.2442
Dollar/Yen 95.55
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Miho Yoshikawa in TOKYO; Editing
by)
