(Updates prices, adds detail)
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, March 24 (Reuters) - Cash gold was little changed in
Asian trade on Monday after an early attempt to rise above $920
failed as the dollar gained ground against other major
currencies.
Spot gold <XAU=> briefly rose to $920.40 an ounce, but then
returned to levels seen late last week.
As of 0820 GMT, gold was trading at $917.20/918.00 an ounce,
compared with $916.60/917.40 in Asia late on Friday. Gold was
trading around $920.30/921.10 in late New York trade on Thursday
before U.S. and European markets closed for the Good Friday
holiday.
In Asia, markets in Hong Kong and Australia remained closed,
but markets in India and Singapore reopened.
Gold hit a record high last Monday at $1,030.80 as concerns
about deepening financial market troubles in the United States
hit the dollar and raised gold's allure as a safe-haven asset.
But the dollar has steadied against other major currencies,
helped by a series of aggressive efforts by the Federal Reserve
to ease the credit crisis.
"Investors had fled to cash and gold as fears about the
liquidity crunch heightened in the United States, but that flight
was coming to a halt given joint efforts by the Fed and the
Treasury Department," said Yuki Sonoda, adviser at Daiichi
Commodities Co, referring to the proposed takeover of troubled
U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns <BCS.N>.
"A sell-off in all commodities late last week means that a
reversal mode has set in," he said.
On Thursday, gold bottomed at $904.65, a level last seen on
Feb. 18, as investment funds cashed in bullion to cover losses in
other financial markets.
The dollar rose 0.4 percent to 99.90 yen <JPY=> from late
Asian trading on Friday. The dollar hit a 13-year low of 95.77
yen on electronic trading platform EBS early last week.
The euro fell 0.5 percent to $1.5370 <EUR=> from around
$1.5445 in late Asian trading on Friday, slipping further from a
record high of $1.5905 struck on EBS last week.
"The market is still in a phase of adjusting overbought
positions. A further recovery in the dollar is expected to prompt
sales in gold," said Tatsuo Kageyama, analyst at Kanetsu Asset
Management in Tokyo.
"But falls in gold should be limited at around $850, where
buying from India is expected to emerge."
COMEX gold futures were weaker in Asia. The most active April
contract <GCJ8> on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange stood at $918.2 an ounce, compared with Thursday's
settlement of $920.
Gold futures <0#JAU:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM)
also fell, with the most active February delivery dropping 40
yen, or 1.3 percent, to 2,977 yen per gram.
But spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,875/1,885 an ounce from
$1,850/1,860 in late Asian trade on Friday, bolstered by
expectations that the white metal is fundamentally bullish as a
power crisis in top producer South Africa continues to curb
output.
Last week a Reuters poll of 11 analysts and traders forecast
that the median deficit for platinum, used in jewelry and to
clean vehicle exhaust fumes, is likely to widen to 470,000 ounces
by the end of 2008. []
Key TOCOM platinum futures <0#JPL:> for February delivery
closed up 133 yen, or 2.3 percent, at 5,878 yen per gram.
Spot silver <XAG=> rose to $17.16/17.21 an ounce from around
$17.07 in late Asian trade on Friday. Palladium <XPD=> was little
changed at $430/436 an ounce from around $431.
(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo)
