* Gold regains footing after falling nearly 1 pct
* Thinly-traded palladium hits 2-year high
* Coming Up: U.S. CPI for March; 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 14 (Reuters) - Gold rose on bargain
hunting on Wednesday and could challenge this week's peak on
hopes that healthy GDP data from China, the world's
second-largest bullion consumer, would further boost sentiment
in commodities.
Gold, which has gained on safe-haven buying related to
problems with debt-ridden Greece, will also watch a trail of
U.S. economic data due later in the day for clues on the
direction of currencies.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,154.00 an ounce, up $3.85 an
ounce from New York's notional close on Tuesday, when it hit an
intraday low of $1,144.75 an ounce. Gold had rallied to
$1,168.70 on Monday, its strongest since Dec. 4.
"The GDP should be a good reflection of China's disposable
income. If China's consumer demand is good, it's most probable
the gold price will be well supported," said Wong Eng Soon, an
investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
China's first-quarter GDP figures are due on Thursday.
"I think the downside for gold will be limited because I
see most of the risky currencies like euro all up at least for
the last couple of days. I don't think there is a problem in
crossing $1,168 again."
COMEX June <GCM0> added $1.7 to $1,155.1 an ounce, having
fallen nearly 1 percent on Wednesday.
The vast majority of economists polled expect GDP growth to
have accelerated from the 10.7 percent rate of the last quarter
of 2009 due to a low base of comparison. In the first three
months of 2009, GDP rose only 6.1 percent from a year earlier.
For a preview, click on []
The euro ticked higher on Wednesday while the dollar
retraced some of its losses against the yen ahead of a slew of
U.S. economic data and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's
testimony to Congress. []
Investors also await the release of U.S. retail sales and
consumer price numbers and U.S. consumer price index for March.
Among other precious metals, thinly-traded palladium <XPD=>
rose to its highest since March 2008 at $534 an ounce, while
sister metal platinum <XPT=> hovered near Monday's 20-month
high. Both metals are mainly used in autocatalysts.
Anglo Platinum <AMSJ.J>, the world's No. 1 producer of the
precious metal, expects improved demand this year and may raise
production by 8 percent, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
[]
"The global economy seems to be improving, so we can say
that industrial metals will outperform gold," a dealer in Hong
Kong said.
"Gold is consolidating. We see profit taking at the high
and a little bit of bargain buying at below $1,150," said the
dealer, referring to bullion's intraday low around $1,149 on
Wednesday.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at a record of
1,141.041 tonnes as of April 13, unchanged from the previous
business day. []
Precious metals prices at 0244 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1154.00 3.85 +0.33 5.32
Spot Silver 18.27 0.09 +0.50 8.56
Spot Platinum 1725.25 11.25 +0.66 17.60
Spot Palladium 537.50 11.50 +2.19 32.55
TOCOM Gold 3471.00 21.00 +0.61 6.51
29680
TOCOM Platinum 5162.00 53.00 +1.04 17.83
12107
TOCOM Silver 55.30 0.80 +1.47 6.96
245
TOCOM Palladium 1609.00 78.00 +5.09 38.11
811
Euro/Dollar 1.3652
Dollar/Yen 93.25
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
