* Gold recovers early losses, hits record high in euro terms
* Euro suffers from persistent fears over Greek debt
* Palladium prices hit 2-year high at $504.50/oz
(Updates prices)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Gold rose to four-week highs on
Tuesday and euro-priced gold hit a record as investors bought
the metal as an alternative to paper currencies amid persistent
concerns over smaller euro zone economies.
This helped dollar-denominated gold shrug off a 0.8 percent
rise in the dollar's value versus the euro. []
Spot gold <XAU=> was bid at $1,137.60 at 1622 GMT against
$1,129.70 late in New York on Monday. Earlier it rose as high as
$1,138.20 an ounce, its firmest since early March.
Euro-priced gold <XAUEUR=R> rose to a record 850.99 euros an
ounce, against 837.68 late on Monday.
"With gold doing well on the crosses and with good physical
demand in India and China, there is still a group who are
looking at gold as a currency," said Simon Weeks, head of
precious metals at the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Indian dealers said demand for the metal in the world's
biggest gold market was firm as traders took advantage of a
price retreat to stock up ahead of a raft of festivals and for
the spring wedding season. []
Spot gold prices slipped in earlier trade as the dollar
firmed versus the euro, making the metal more expensive for
holders of other currencies.
The euro declined broadly, driven by concern over Greece's
persistent debt problems after a report that the country is set
to launch a multi-billion dollar bond in the United States this
month. []
Media reports also said the Mediterranean nation wanted to
amend a recent EU aid deal and that Greek banks were being hit
as big depositors move cash to overseas institutions, which
highlighted Athens' deficit problems. ID:nSGE635017]
[]
U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCM0> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $4.70 to
$1,138.50 an ounce.
PALLADIUM HITS TWO-YEAR HIGH
Among other commodities, oil prices hit a fresh 18-month
high, after falling earlier as the dollar rallied. Gold tends to
track crude prices, as the metal can be bought as a hedge
against oil-led inflation. []
Palladium prices <XPD=> also rose to two-year highs at
$507.50 an ounce against $500, boosted by expectations demand
will be strong this year from carmakers -- who account for more
than half of palladium consumption -- and investors.
Platinum <XPT=> was at $1,699 an ounce against $1,703, the
20-month high it hit on Monday.
"We remain tactically bullish both metals this year,
expecting their price increases to outstrip those for gold,"
said UBS analyst Edel Tully in a note.
"Among the positive demand and supply factors we see this
year, our strongest conviction is for a rebound of auto-related
platinum group metal demand as worldwide vehicle production
rises, forcing a restocking of the metal inventories run down in
2009."
The gold-platinum ratio which shows how many ounces of gold
are needed to buy an ounce of platinum, reached 1.51 on Tuesday,
Reuters data showed, matching the previous session's level, its
highest since September 2008.
Among other precious metals, silver <XAG=> was at $18.04 an
ounce against $18.02. The world's largest silver ETF, the
iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its holdings fell 38.9 tonnes
on April 5 to 9,178.27 tonnes. []
(Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
