(Adds closing in Tokyo, quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 18 (Reuters) - Gold steadied around $1,000
an ounce ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting on
interest rates on Tuesday, but investors and speculators were
still keen to book profits after pushing up the price to record
highs.
Gold <XAU=> hit a low of $994 an ounce before rebounding to
$1,002.50/1,003.20 an ounce, up from $1,001.00/1,001.80 late in
New York. It spiked to an historic high of $1,030.80 an ounce
on Monday before profit taking erased most of the gains.
Platinum hit a one-week low, while silver and palladium
hovered below their recent highs. COMEX futures rebounded from
lows.
"I think we can say there's disappointed selling today
because it could not break the high," said Ronald Leung,
director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
But investors remained bullish on gold and fears of further
rises in prices also attracted limited buying from jewellers,
said Leung, who pegged support at $990 and resistance at
$1,020. Gold has gained more than 23 percent this year on
fears of inflation as crude oil hit records, expectations of
further rate cuts and deepening U.S. financial concerns after
JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> said it would buy cash-strapped
Bear Stearns <BSC.N>.
The dollar hovered above its lowest level against the yen
in nearly 13 years and a record low against the euro, but was
prone to more declines on worries about the U.S. financial
system. []
The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by 1
percentage point to 2 percent at a policy meeting on Tuesday,
and investors now see some chance of an even deeper cut.
"I believe the key level remains at $1,025. That's the
resistance level. Any level above that might not be
sustainable," said William Kwan, a dealer at Phillip Futures in
Singapore.
"But fundamentally, there's a lot of safe-haven buying in
anticipation the U.S. dollar will weaken further," he said.
Gold futures for April delivery <GCJ8> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $1.4 an
ounce to $1,004.0 an ounce, off Monday's record of $1,033.90.
Separately, India's gold imports in February plunged to 10
tonnes from 59 tonnes in the same month a year ago due to
soaring international prices and could fall further this month.
[]
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $1,945/1,955 an ounce from
$1,980/1,990 late in New York on Monday and off a record high
of $2,290 an ounce hit on March 4 on fund buying after a power
crisis disrupted mining in main producer South Africa.
"The fall in platinum is especially big after surging
repeatedly in the last several weeks. Gold and others are
falling but there should be plenty of demand once the outlook
in the financial market gets clearer," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa,
an analyst at IDO Securities in Tokyo.
Platinum shrugged off news that South African power utility
Eskom may have to inform mines of a force majeure if more of
its generators trip, Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger told
Reuters. []
The most active Tokyo platinum futures <0#JPL:> fell by the
daily 300 yen limit to 5,991 yen per gram in a carryover of
selling from New York.
Silver <XAG=> edged down to $20.06/20.11 an ounce from
$20.35/20.41 an ounce. Spot palladium <XPD=> fell to $462/467
an ounce from $465/470 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0637 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1003.00 0.70 +0.07 20.45
Spot Silver 20.07 -0.08 -0.40 35.88
Spot Platinum 1955.00 -25.00 -1.26 28.62
Spot Palladium 462.00 -3.00 -0.65 25.54
TOCOM Gold 3168.00 -60.00 -1.86 3.53
109811
TOCOM Platinum 5991.00 -300.00 -4.77 12.21
5829
TOCOM Silver 632.90 -34.50 -5.17 16.99
2915
TOCOM Palladium 1503.00 -100.00 -6.24 11.25
1220
Euro/Dollar 1.5773
Dollar/Yen 97.55
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo in Tokyo; Editing by
Ben Tan)
