* Gold to rise to $1,388/oz -technicals
* Coming Up: Reuters/U. Mich Sentiment Feb; 1455 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Gold erased some of early
gains in directionless trade on Friday, under pressure from a
drop in ETF holdings to their lowest since late January, a firm
U.S. dollar and a lacklustre physical market.
Premiums for gold bars were steady in Hong Kong and
Singapore, with no signs of buying interest from China after the
Lunar New Year celebration. Unrest in Egypt could underpin
sentiment, but there was hardly any physical buying in Asia
related to the deadly turmoil.
Egypt's people-power protesters, reeling with disillusion
and anger after President Hosni Mubarak dashed hopes he would
resign, planned massive new demonstrations on Friday that may
test the army's loyalties.
"There's not much going on in terms of demand in the
physical market. That's why there are some stocks kept here.
(People) try to sell them immediately," said Dick Poon, manager
of precious metals at Heraus in Hong Kong, referring to physical
supply.
"The production side and manufacturing are not back to
normal after the Chinese holiday. Maybe next week. I think gold
is most likely to trade in the range of $1,350 to $1,370 right
now."
Spot gold shed 50 cents to $1,362.40 an ounce by 0639
GMT, well below a lifetime high around $1,430 hit in December.
Trading was thin, with Japanese investors away for a public
holiday, but the price had reached an intraday high around
$1,365.
A bullish target of $1,388 per ounce has been
re-established for spot gold based on an inverted
head-and-shoulders pattern, according to Wang Tao, a Reuters
market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
For a weekly gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20111102084122.jpg
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust , said its holdings slipped to 1,225.526 tonnes
by Feb. 10, their lowest since late January, from 1,226.436
tonnes on Feb. 9.
U.S. gold futures for April were steady at $1,363.3
an ounce.
The dollar touched a one-month high against the yen on
Friday after data underscored that the U.S. labour market was on
the mend, while the Australian dollar fell after its central
bank said interest rates were likely to stay on hold for some
time.
Physical dealers said that China, the world's
second-largest consumer after India, could return to the market
next week, but higher prices could keep demand in check. Gold
was at around $1,340 an ounce before the Lunar New Year.
"There's not much demand from India either. The price is
either too high for them to buy or to low to cash in. I think
they are doing business internally, and there's no need to buy
from overseas market," said a dealer in Singapore.
"The premium for gold bar is still at $1.6, but it's likely
to drop next week. We are starting to see suppliers easing up
their premiums."
In other markets, Asian stocks fell on Friday and were on
course for their biggest weekly loss in nine months, as
investors shunned risk on concerns about the pace of policy
tightening within the region and escalating tensions in Egypt.
Precious metals prices 0639 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1362.40 -0.50 -0.04 -4.02
Spot Silver 30.00 -0.19 -0.63 -2.79
Spot Platinum 1828.00 3.25 +0.18 3.42
Spot Palladium 817.75 -2.50 -0.30 2.28
TOCOM Gold 3656.00 27.00 +0.74 -1.96 16840
TOCOM Platinum 4931.00 -16.00 -0.32 5.00 4371
TOCOM Silver 80.60 0.70 +0.88 -0.49 479
TOCOM Palladium 2197.00 -3.00 -0.14 4.77 192
Euro/Dollar 1.3561
Dollar/Yen 83.48
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in
$ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Manash Goswami)
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