* 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 buyer, would further boost sentiment in
commodities.
Palladium, mainly used in auto catalysts, jumped to its
highest in two years on fund buying driven by hopes that demand
for platinum group metals (PGMs) could outstrip supply.
Platinum hovered near Monday's 20-month high.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,155.00 an ounce, up $4.85 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.
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 and tomorrow's headline March economic
numbers, including GDP, from China.
"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.
"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 $2.6 to $1,156.0 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 low-yielding
yen fell ahead of a testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke on the economic outlook before the Joint Economic
Committee of Congress. []
Investors also await the release of U.S. retail sales and
consumer price index for March.
Among other precious metals, thinly-traded palladium <XPD=>
rose to its highest since March 2008 at $538 an ounce, while
platinum <XPT=> held near this week's peak.
"The funds have been buying continuously and one of the
reasons could be the news about a supply deficit," said a
dealer in Tokyo.
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 company has previously forecast the platinum market to
return to a deficit in 2010 due to a small rise in supply and a
significant recovery in demand.
"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 0522 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1155.00 4.85 +0.42 5.41
Spot Silver 18.28 0.10 +0.55 8.62
Spot Platinum 1721.00 7.00 +0.41 17.31
Spot Palladium 536.00 10.00 +1.90 32.18
TOCOM Gold 3474.00 24.00 +0.70 6.60
34035
TOCOM Platinum 5158.00 49.00 +0.96 17.74
14628
TOCOM Silver 55.30 0.80 +1.47 6.96
323
TOCOM Palladium 1609.00 78.00 +5.09 38.11
1066
Euro/Dollar 1.3651
Dollar/Yen 93.25
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane)
