* Gold rebounds from 2-week low; PGMs weaken
* China consumer inflation rises more than expected
* Coming Up: Weekly U.S. jobless claims (1330 GMT)
(Updates prices,)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 11 (Reuters) - Gold regained some strength
on Thursday after falling to its lowest in nearly two weeks the
previous day, although poor technicals and failure to sustain
recent gains may spur selling, traders said.
Bullion has seen a series of corrections since striking a
lifetime high above $1,200 an ounce last December. Although it
has rebounded from a three-month low around $1,043 in February,
a build-up in long positions in New York futures has now
threatened to cap any gains.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,108.75 an ounce by 0558 GMT, up
90 cents from New York's notional close on Wednesday, when it
fell to as low as $1,102.85 an ounce, its lowest level since
Feb. 25, as safe-haven buying on Greek sovereign debt worries
tapered off.
Gold rose above the 50-day moving average on Thursday as
bargain hunters resurfaced but it remained below the 100-day
moving average, with strong Chinese inflation data triggering
worries about further monetary tightening.
For a graphic of gold's movements versus moving averages,
click on the link:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/NTrv_20101103130838.jpg
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,115.511 tonnes
by March 10, down 0.609 tonnes from the previous business day.
[]
"We have seen investors withdraw holdings in the SPDR ETF,
which has stalled the upward trend seen since the end of
February," said David Barclay, commodity strategist at Standard
Chartered in Hong Kong.
"The stronger than expected CPI numbers out of China this
morning raise the prospect of a 27 (basis point) rate hike by
end-Q1, which would move policy further away from a super-loose
stance to a more accommodative one.
"This could weigh on commodities markets in the near term,
which would be bearish for gold."
Chinese consumer inflation spurted to a 16-month high in
February and a raft of economic data displayed broad-based
strength, providing fresh arguments for policy tightening
sooner rather than later. []
U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJ0> hardly changed
at $1,108.8 an ounce, having ended 1.3 percent lower on
Wednesday.
The latest Commitment of Traders report by the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed net long
noncommercial gold futures positions at 207,372 contracts, up
3.4 percent from the prior week and up 14 percent during the
last four weeks.
"We've see a little bit of buying but the market comes off
after it reaches $1,111. I think the concern now is whether
China is going to raise interest rates, then it will affect
sentiment in commodities," said a dealer in Hong Kong.
Palladium <XPD=> fell more than 2 percent as speculators
booked profits from last week's rally to 2-year highs, while
platinum <XPT=> slipped from a 7-week high hit on Wednesday.
In other markets, the euro edged down to $1.3646 <EUR=>,
having risen 0.4 percent on Wednesday. Oil fell below $82 on
Thursday, pulling prices from an eight-week high a day ago on
expectations for OPEC members to keep pumping crude above
quotas in the second quarter. []
Singapore Commodity Exchange (SICOM), a unit of Singapore
Exchange (SGX) <SGXL.SI>, said it will commence trading of its
new gold deferred settlement contract on March 30.
[]
Precious metals prices at 0558 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1108.75 0.90 +0.08 1.19
Spot Silver 16.91 -0.06 -0.35 0.48
Spot Platinum 1584.00 -8.00 -0.50 7.98
Spot Palladium 452.00 -9.50 -2.06 11.47
TOCOM Gold 3233.00 -39.00 -1.19 -0.80
41330
TOCOM Platinum 4590.00 -46.00 -0.99 4.77
17165
TOCOM Silver 49.70 -1.40 -2.74 -3.87
1018
TOCOM Palladium 1308.00 -51.00 -3.75 12.27
613
Euro/Dollar 1.3644
Dollar/Yen 90.38
(Additional reporting by Nick Trevethan in Singapore; Editing
by Clarence Fernandez)
