* Gold firms near highest in more than a week
* Platinum up on bargain hunting but lacks physical demand
(Updates prices, adds activity in physical market)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Gold advanced on Friday and
held near its strongest in more than a week as investors
shifted some of their money back into bullion on a weaker
dollar and tensions between Russia and the United States that
lifted oil. In the physical sector, jewellers in Thailand
cashed in on gold's gains but there was light buying from other
consumers which helped premiums for gold bars stay above $1 to
spot London prices as tight supplies persisted. <GOLD/ASIA1>.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $833.90/834.90 an ounce from
$832.40/833.40 an ounce late in New York. Gold rallied to $839
an ounce on Thursday, its strongest since Aug. 11, also driven
by news of a bullion coin shortage in the U.S.
Despite the gains, gold was still well below a record high
of $1,030.80 an ounce hit in March. Analysts pegged resistance
levels at $840 and $850 an ounce.
"Whether or not it will be sustained, I guess it really
depends on what rhetoric we get from Russia in the days ahead.
I believe it's possible we may go on further from here," said
Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
"There seems to be a bit of a return to favour commodities
again in the last couple of days. I think the physical buying
has helped to support it as well," he said.
Oil <CLc1> was steady around $121 on Friday, after jumping
nearly 5 percent in previous session on tensions between the
United States and Russia and asliding U.S. dollar. []
The United States said on Thursday that Russia must
withdraw its military forces from Georgia "now", saying Moscow
was in violation of a commitment to do so made earlier this
month. []
In theory, surging oil prices and geopolitical tensions
lift gold's safe-haven appeal.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $0.6 an ounce to
$839.60.
Platinum, palladium and silver also rose to track gold,
which has bounced eight percent since tumbling to a nine-month
low last week, when a surging U.S. dollar ignited heavy
selling.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $1,446.00/1,466.00 an ounce
from $1,449.50/1,469.50 an ounce late in New York, having hit a
1-week high of $1,457 an ounce earlier on Friday.
Dealers also noted bargain buying from Japanese retail
investors and trading houses on Tokyo platinum futures
<0#JPL:>.
"I personally think platinum prices have reached their
bottom. But at this moment, I couldn't confirm if automobile
companies have started to buy," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious
metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
Platinum tumbled to its weakest since last September around
$1,296 on Tuesday on weak gold prices and worries about falling
demand for autocatalysts because of a slowing U.S. economy and
poor car sales. It struck a lifetime high of $2,290 in March.
Spot palladium <XPD=> inched up to $291.00/299.00 an ounce
from $286.00/294.00 an ounce. Silver <XAG=> firmed to
$13.90/13.96 an ounce from $13.80/13.87 an ounce.
The most active Tokyo gold contract for June 2009 delivery
<0#JAU:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 46 yen per gram
to 2,938 yen.
Precious metals prices at 0400 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 834.45 -1.00 -0.12 0.21
Spot Silver 13.90 0.09 +0.65 -5.89
Spot Platinum 1446.00 -4.00 -0.28 -4.87
Spot Palladium 291.00 4.50 +1.57 -20.92
TOCOM Gold 2938.00 46.00 +1.59 -3.99
20843
TOCOM Platinum 5053.00 217.00 +4.49 -5.36
11059
TOCOM Silver 492.10 18.20 +3.84 -9.04
584
TOCOM Palladium 1047.00 23.00 +2.25 -22.50
709
Euro/Dollar 1.4867
Dollar/Yen 108.93
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
