* SPDR holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> unchanged since July 22
* Recent gains in gold prices fuelled by speculative buying
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, July 27 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Monday as the dollar
stayed weaker, underpinning investors' demand for bullion as a
hedge against the U.S. currency.
The dollar hovered near recent lows against the euro, weighed
down by a recovery in risk appetite as stock markets in the
region added to their recent gains.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> hit its highest in nine
months on Monday, boosted by hopes for better-than-expected
Japanese corporate results. [] [].
Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.4 percent to $954.30 per ounce as of
0544 GMT, compared with New York's notional close of $950.35
ounce on Friday.
It rose about 1.5 percent last week, marking the second week
of gains.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> inched up about
0.2 percent to $954.80 per ounce. The contract settled down $1.70
at $953.10 on Friday on the COMEX division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is holding relatively well as the dollar remains on the
weak side," said Peter Tse, a dealer at Scotia Mocatta in Hong
Kong. But it would remain in range trading unless it clearly
broke above the $955-$965 area, he said.
Bullion hit a six-week high of $957.10 per ounce on Thursday.
But a lack of follow-through buying and resilience in the dollar
capped the precious metal's rises.
"In a sense, an equities rally means we should see a much
weaker dollar. But this is not the case for the last couple of
days," Scotia Mocatta's Tse said.
"Even though the dollar remains on the weak side, it's not
falling very rapidly. So that's why you see gold hasn't really
rallied much," he said.
The recent gains in gold were mainly led by buying by
speculative operators, traders said. Investment demand for
gold-backed exchange-traded funds remained sluggish.
"The market has been bolstered by buying by speculative
players only," said a dealer at a Japanese trading firm.
"A further gain is unlikely unless other commodities rise,
for example, crude oil prices top $70 a barrel and rise higher,
and invite more such buying," the manager said.
Underlining his view, noncommercial net long positions in New
York gold futures jumped 9 percent to 173,302 lots in the week to
July 21, a weekly report by the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission showed on Friday. []
Gold holdings by the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, have stayed
unchanged since July 22. The holdings stood at 1,086.61 tonnes as
of July 24, down 47.42 tonnes from a record marked on June 1.
[]
Precious metals prices at 0544 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 954.30 3.95 +0.42 8.42
Spot Silver 13.98 0.12 +0.87 23.50
Spot Platinum 1201.00 16.00 +1.35 28.86
Spot Palladium 260.00 1.50 +0.58 40.92
TOCOM Gold 2918.00 20.00 +0.69 13.41 28254
TOCOM Platinum 3676.00 94.00 +2.62 38.61 10898
TOCOM Silver 428.00 12.40 +2.98 34.04 228
TOCOM Palladium 795.00 5.00 +0.63 44.55 430
Euro/Dollar 1.4239
Dollar/Yen 94.76
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 Miho Yoshikawa)
