* Gold holds steady in holiday-thinned trade
* Weak dollar seen helping to support gold
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Gold was mostly steady on Friday,
holding near $845 amid views that the dollar would remain under
pressure given the grim outlook of the U.S. economy, but
activity was slow due to the holiday season.
New York futures markets were closed on Thursday for
Christmas, and will reopen on Friday. All UK financial markets
will remain closed on Friday for Boxing Day holiday.
Spot gold <XAU=> inched up to $845.90 an ounce at 0348 GMT
from $844 late in New York, after moving between $840.00 and
$847.75.
Gold has lost about 18 percent of its value from the record
high of $1030.80 marked in mid-March.
Koji Suzuki, a senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd, said a
weak dollar was benefiting gold, which often trades with an
inverse correlation to the dollar due to its role as a hedge
against the U.S. currency.
"The lack of liquidity is mostly behind recent market moves
as position adjustment takes place, but that is about all
that's happening," he said.
Trading activity has been light this week due to the
Christmas holiday.
The yen dipped against the dollar and the euro on Friday
after the release of poor Japanese economic data, but the
Japanese currency's losses were limited in thin holiday trade.
[]
The dollar rose to 90.65 yen <JPY=> from around 90.40 yen
seen in late Asian trade the previous day.
The euro was barely changed at $1.4020 <EUR=>. Against the
yen, the European single currency strengthened to 127.10 yen
<EURJPY=R> from around 126.65 yen.
Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves rose by a
record $15.4 billion in the latest week thanks to a stronger
euro and a rise in commercial banks' foreign currency deposits.
[]
The series of weak Japanese data released on Friday
underscored fears that the world's second largest economy after
the United States could sink back into deflation next year.
Government data showed that annual nationwide core consumer
inflation slowed to 1.0 percent in November from 1.9 percent in
October. []
In a sign of further trouble for an economy already in
recession, the ratio of jobs available to those looking for
work fell to a nearly five-year low, while industrial
production fell a more-than-expected 8.1 percent in November
from a month earlier. [][]
February gold futures <GCG9> was mostly unchanged at $848.2
an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange in early Asian trade after settling at $848 in New
York on Wednesday.
U.S. crude <CLc1> futures rose above $36 a barrel on Friday
after the UAE joined Saudi Arabia in deepening oil supply curbs
to comply with OPEC's biggest-ever output cut last week. []
The benchmark December contract on the Tokyo Commodity
Exchange <0#JAU:> rose 12 yen to 2,465 yen per gram.
Platinum <XPT=> rose to $871 from $850 in late New York,
while palladium <XPD=> was flat at $174.
Silver <XAG=> inched up to $10.34 from $10.33.
Precious metals prices at 0354 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 845.75 1.75 +0.21 1.57
Spot Silver 10.36 0.03 +0.29 -29.86
Spot Platinum 869.50 19.50 +2.29 -42.80
Spot Palladium 174.00 0.00 +0.00 -52.72
TOCOM Gold 2465.00 12.00 +0.49 -19.44
10408
TOCOM Platinum 2558.00 72.00 +2.90 -52.09
7225
TOCOM Silver 300.90 2.80 +0.94 -44.38
103
TOCOM Palladium 522.00 2.00 +0.38 -61.36
95
Euro/Dollar 1.4045
Dollar/Yen 90.45
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except for silver which is in
yen per 10 grams, spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Kazunori Takada)
