* Gold gains to one-week high, charts improve
* For a technical outlook on gold, click []
* Coming up: U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI Jul; 1400 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug. 4 (Reuters) - Gold extended gains and rose
to a one-week high on Wednesday as speculators bet China's
demand would increase and poor U.S. data sparked concerns about
the health of the global economy.
Higher prices sparked selling from jewellers in Asia, while
China's decision to allow more banks to trade in the precious
metal underpinned sentiment and helped bullion stay above the
100-day moving average.
Spot gold <XAU=> hit an intraday high of $1,194.75 an ounce
before easing to $1,191.70, still up $6.35 from New York's
notional close. Gold was around 6 percent below a lifetime high
of $1,264.90 struck in June.
For a graphic of gold's 24-hour technical outlook, see:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20100408090219.jpg
"I think this is mostly related to the news we heard from
China," said Dick Poon, manager of Heraeus in Hong Kong. "But
there's not much going on the physical side. Physical buying
has slowed down a bit at the moment."
The People's Bank of China said on Tuesday it would allow
banks to hedge bullion positions in overseas markets, urge
banks to lend more to domestic gold firms looking to go abroad,
and actively develop more yuan-denominated gold derivatives.
[]
China is the world's largest producer of gold and its
second-largest consumer after India.
"It looks like (there is) some buying from investors
because jewellers are in fact selling back their holdings,"
said a dealer in Singapore.
"I guess the market is bullish because China is opening up
the market, so there will be more opportunity to invest. It's a
good sign."
China has opened bullion markets to active trade in the
past decade, including allowing gold to be traded freely on the
Shanghai Gold Exchange. Gold hoarding was initially outlawed in
1949 when the Commmunists took power.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> rose $6.8 an
ounce to $1,194.3 an ounce.
Japan's Nikkei average slipped more than 2 percent on
Wednesday, with exporters down on a combination of a strong yen
and after U.S. stocks slipped on weaker-than-estimated data on
consumer spending and housing. [] []
The dollar hit an eight-month low against the yen on
Wednesday, extending losses as weak U.S. data and talk of
further monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve pushed
down U.S. Treasury yields. []
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings were still unchanged at
1,282.279 tonnes. The holdings hit a record of 1,320.436 tonnes
on June 29. []
Precious metals prices at 0443 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1191.70 6.35 +0.54 8.76
Spot Silver 18.49 0.07 +0.38 9.86
Spot Platinum 1585.75 9.25 +0.59 8.09
Spot Palladium 502.25 3.90 +0.78 23.86
TOCOM Gold 3281.00 -18.00 -0.55 0.68
31096
TOCOM Platinum 4396.00 -51.00 -1.15 0.34
11391
TOCOM Silver 51.40 -0.30 -0.58 -0.58
342
TOCOM Palladium 1386.00 -34.00 -2.39 18.97
386
Euro/Dollar 1.3208
Dollar/Yen 85.35
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane)
