By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, April 18 (Reuters) - Gold inched up on Friday,
recouping some of the previous day's losses made on
profit-taking, with traders watching to see if the precious metal
would again try for the $950 level.
Some in the market expect gold to break out of its current
range-bound trade and move higher.
"The elements supporting higher gold are there," said Tatsuo
Kageyama, an analyst at Tokyo's Kanetsu Asset Management.
"Even though it was brief, gold did break above $950, with
crude prices hitting record highs and the dollar continuing to
remain weak against the euro," he said.
Spot gold rose to a three-week high of $952.60 an ounce on
Thursday, before it gave up gains on profit-taking sparked by a
slight recovery in the dollar.
On Friday, bullion <XAU=> rose to an intra-day high of $945
per ounce. It eased a touch to $943.30/944.10 by 0329 GMT, still
above the late New York level of $938.90/939.70.
Crude oil prices have slipped from the historical high of
$115.54 a barrel marked on Thursday, but prices continue to hover
around $115 due to worries about gasoline supplies in the United
States ahead of the summer driving season.
U.S. light crude for May delivery <CLc1> gained 27 cents to
$115.13 a barrel.
Gold often tracks oil because investors use it as an
inflation hedge when energy prices are high.
"Gold is still looking cheap relative to crude and needs to
do some catching up," said Kageyama at Kanetsu.
Bullion is trading down about 8.5 percent from an all-time
high of $1,030.80 marked on March 17.
In the currency market, the dollar steadied against the yen
and the euro on Friday, clinging to gains made the previous day
as investors grew more confident about the outlook for the
troubled U.S. financial sector.
The dollar dipped 0.1 percent to 102.42 yen, hovering near a
one-month high of 102.95 yen hit in early April.
The euro was little changed at $1.5890, having retreated from
a record high of $1.5985 hit on electronic trading platform EBS
on Thursday.
The active U.S. gold futures contract for June delivery
<GCM8> on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange
also bounced back in Asia, climbing by $3.4 per ounce, or 0.4
percent, to $946.3.
The benchmark February gold contract <0#JAU:> on the Tokyo
Commodity Exchange closed the morning down 3 yen a gram, or 0.1
percent, at 3,128 yen.
Platinum <XPT=> rose to $2,055/2,065 an ounce from late New
York levels of $2,042/2,052 .
Palladium <XPD=> was at $457/462 compared to $456/461.
Silver <XAG=> rose to $18.34/18.39 an ounce from $18.23/18.28
late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0342 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 943.10 4.20 +0.45 13.26
Spot Silver 18.34 0.12 +0.66 24.17
Spot Platinum 2055.00 13.00 +0.64 35.20
Spot Palladium 457.00 1.00 +0.22 24.18
TOCOM Gold 3129.00 -2.00 -0.06 2.25 15053
TOCOM Platinum 6637.00 33.00 +0.50 24.31 13873
TOCOM Silver 608.90 -5.00 -0.81 12.55 320
TOCOM Palladium 1548.00 6.00 +0.39 14.58 652
Euro/Dollar 1.5893
Dollar/Yen 102.36
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
