PRECIOUS-Gold steadies, ETF falls from record

                                
 * Gold hovers near one-week low
                                
 * SPDR gold ETF dips 0.7 pct, off record
                                
 By Miho Yoshikawa
                                
 TOKYO, April 17 (Reuters) - Gold hovered near a one-week
low on Friday, pressured by firming equities, while dealers
took a drop from a record high in the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund as a sign investor demand may
be receding.
                                
 Holdings of New York's SPDR Gold Trust <GLD> fell 0.7
percent from the record high it had climbed to on April 9.
[GOL/SPDR], the biggest decline this year.
                                
 The holdings fell to 1,119.43 tonnes by April 16, down 8.25
tonnes from the previous day. The trust's holdings have fallen
about 1 percent so far in April, versus a rise of roughly 4
percent in the comparable period last month.
                                
 For details, click on:
                                
 http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
                                
 Comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude
Trichet on Friday, which currency market participants said held
no surprises, nevertheless accelerated a fall in the euro,
although gold failed to budge.
                                
 The euro hit a one-month low against the dollar, dented by
uncertain prospects for the euro zone economy. [USD/]
                                
 Trichet said in Tokyo that banks would be the focus for any
unconventional policy response to the financial crisis, and
that the ECB needed a strategy to eventually reverse those
measures. [ID:nT254073]
                                
 Gold fell to a one-week low on Thursday on signs of a
slowdown in investment demand on budding optimism that the
economy was on the mend.
                                
 Sluggish physical buying has also failed to provide much
support for prices, analysts said.
                                
 "Gold markets are much lower.... as the stock markets are
moving higher again," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip
Futures.
                                
 Investment demand had buoyed gold to above $1,000 an ounce
in late February, but bullion has since lost more than 12
percent.
                                
 Koh said that although he was technically a little bearish
about gold in the near term, he believed gold's long-term
prospects remained solid.
                                
 "Yes, we are starting to see a bit of a decline (in the
SPDR), but it's still not a very large figure, compared to how
much we have gained in gold holdings over the past couple of
months," he said.
                                
 Gold <XAU=> was at $874.90 per ounce by 0702 GMT, up 0.04
percent from New York's notional close of $874.55.
                                
 It has fallen more than 2 percent since the beginning of
this week.
                                
 India's gold buyers continued to trickle in to stock up the
yellow metal to meet festive demand, traders said.
                                
 Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on April 27, is the
second-most auspicious day to buy gold after Dhanteras.
[ID:nBOM189258]
                                
 Koji Suzuki, a senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd, said
gold was drawing some support from a recovery in demand from
parts of Asia, such as China. He added that he expects gold to
recover.
                                
 "Gold is sinking now because of the outflow of funds and
technical profit-taking," he said.
                                
 "I think, though, that gold will resume rising after this
period of correction is completed," he said.
                                
 Japan's Nikkei stock average gained 1.7 percent as
steelmakers surged after Nippon Steel <5401.T> negotiated a
smaller-than-expected price cut with Toyota Motor Corp
<7203.T>, but the benchmark marked its first negative week
since early March. [.T]
                                
 Signs that the global economic downturn may be easing have
helped boost platinum, which is used in autocatalysts.
                                
 The metal, also used in jewellery, has fallen a touch since
hitting a 6-1/2-month high of $1,244 per ounce on Monday, but
has managed to stay above $1,200.
                                
 Spot platinum <XPT=> was at $1,207.5 an ounce, up from its
notional close of $1,201.5.
 Precious metals prices at 0700 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg
Turnover
 Spot Gold         874.85    0.30   +0.03     -0.60
 Spot Silver        12.18   -0.03   -0.25      7.60
 Spot Platinum    1209.50    8.00   +0.67     29.77
 Spot Palladium    233.00    2.00   +0.87     26.29
 TOCOM Gold       2812.00  -28.00   -0.99      9.29      
33564
 TOCOM Platinum   3888.00   22.00   +0.57     46.61      
15893
 TOCOM Silver      389.20  -12.40   -3.09     21.89        
609
 TOCOM Palladium   757.00   -6.00   -0.79     37.64        
271
 Euro/Dollar       1.3098
 Dollar/Yen         99.57
  TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except for TOCOM silver which
is priced in yen per 10 grams.  Spot prices in $ per ounce.
 (Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Ben Tan)