* Gold hit by profit taking after hitting near 2-wk high
* Euro trims early gains, gold ignores Moscow blasts
* Coming Up - U.S. personal consumption, income, 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds details on Moscow blasts)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 29 - (Reuters) - Gold jumped to its
highest in nearly two weeks on Monday before losing some of the
gains to profit taking, bracing for volatile days ahead as the
euro remained vulnerable to selling.
World Gold Council's forecast of China's consumption was
ignored and there was hardly any safe-haven buying following
deadly blasts in Moscow as investors turned their attention to
a series of U.S. data to be issued that could set the direction
of currencies.
Spot gold <XAU=> rose as high as $1,112.55 an ounce, its
strongest since March 19, and was at $1,108.90 by 0623 GMT, up
$3.80 from New York's notional close on Friday, when it rose
more than 1 percent to regain the psychological level of
$1,100.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJ0> added $5.0 to
$1,109.3 an ounce, having risen 1 percent on Friday after the
euro rallied as euro zone leaders won approval for an aid deal
for debt-laden Greece. []
U.S. bullion, which often dictates movements in cash gold,
also hit a near two-week high on Monday before slipping.
"I think there may be some resistance at $1,100. So it may
be just a normal correction. The price goes up too fast," said
Wong Eng Soon, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in
Singapore.
"For the price to continue to strengthen, there must be
more risk appetite. We need to see U.S. stocks, or the U.S.
economy improving. People already know that Chinese investment
demand and jewellery demand should pick up."
China's gold demand will double over the next decade from
current levels due to jewellery consumption and investment
needs. Demand from jewellery and investment reached a combined
total of 423 tonnes in 2009, said the WGC. []
China, the world's second-largest gold consumer after
India, has seen its gold demand grow at an average rate of 13
percent per year over the past five years.
The euro gave up some of its early gains against the dollar
on Monday after a jump on short covering, while the greenback
rose against the yen as traders expect U.S. jobs data this week
to show an improvement in the labour market. []
Dealers said geopolitical tensions could lend support to
bullion, after a South Korean naval ship sunk in waters near a
contested maritime border with North Korea.
Two blasts ripped through packed Moscow metro stations on
Monday during rush hour, killing at least 34 people and
wounding 18. Moscow's prosecutor Yuri Syomin said suicide
bombers were behind the two blasts. []
[]
Investors awaited the release of U.S. non-farm payrolls
report for March on Friday, which may show 168,000 new jobs
created. See []. Signs of an improving U.S. economy
should support the dollar, analysts said.
"I think gold is still stuck in a range; $1,100 has been hit
but then gold gets a bit tired. We are waiting for non-farm
data and there doesn't seem to be any direction at all," said a
dealer in Hong Kong.
"There's profit taking, that's why the price is moving back
towards New York levels. Gold just follows the dollar," he
added.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,124.647 tonnes
as of March 26, unchanged from the previous business day.
[]
Precious metals prices at 0623 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1108.90 3.80 +0.34 1.20
Spot Silver 17.02 0.17 +1.01 1.13
Spot Platinum 1601.50 7.50 +0.47 9.17
Spot Palladium 458.50 3.00 +0.66 13.07
TOCOM Gold 3312.00 41.00 +1.25 1.63
49660
TOCOM Platinum 4752.00 12.00 +0.25 8.47
11997
TOCOM Silver 51.30 0.80 +1.58 -0.77
671
TOCOM Palladium 1362.00 17.00 +1.26 16.91
357
Euro/Dollar 1.3447
Dollar/Yen 92.60
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane, Himani Sarkar)
