* Money pours into commodities, lifts precious metals
* SPDR holdings stay at record high
* Platinum at 6-month high, lifts palladium
(Updates throughout)
By Humeyra Pamuk
LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Gold ticked higher in volatile
trade on Thursday, underpinned by improving investment appetite
and gains in other commodities such as oil and metals and
despite the dollar rising against the euro.
Platinum touched its highest in six months as dollar
weakness over the past couple of days prompted industrial and
bargain-hunting buying, lifting palladium by nearly 6 percent to
its highest in over four months.
But analysts said with sales sharply down in the auto
sector, the main consumer of platinum, the rally lacked
fundamentals to support it and was seen short-lived.
Spot gold <XAU=> rose to $938.00 per ounce at 1541 GMT, up
from $933.15 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday. Oil <CLc1>
hit its highest in four months while copper <MCU3> surged 3
percent.
"Money keeps pushing into commodities on concerns over the
money supply in the United States," said John Meyer, head of
resources at Fairfax. "Gold is a popular place to be right now."
Gold is used as a hedge against financial uncertainty and
against inflation, which is expected to soar because of the vast
amounts of money being piped into the global economy by central
banks and governments.
The U.S. plan to buy long-dated Treasuries further raised
those inflationary concerns and have also dented the outlook for
the dollar, which in turn is supportive for bullion.
But on Thursday, the dollar was up against the euro <EUR=>,
but trade was volatile. After earlier falls, it was up 0.28
percent against a basket of major currencies <.DXY>.
NO BOUNCE IN CONSUMPTION
The U.S. economy contracted slightly more than previously
estimated in the fourth quarter, pulled down by falling consumer
spending and exports, while corporate profits plunged by the
biggest margin since 1994. []
With this gloomy picture of the world economy and the
automotive sector among the hardest hit, analysts see little
change to the grim fundamentals for platinum.
"There seems to be every week an announcement of carmakers
cutting production. I can't really see any positivity on the
consumption side," David Wilson, director of metals at Societe
Generale, said.
Spot platinum <XPT=> touched $1,159.00 an ounce, its highest
since Sept. 26 and was last at $1,1149.50 an ounce versus $1,120
an ounce late in New York on Wednesday.
"The euro being stronger against the dollar has encouraged
some industrial buying," said Commerzbank trader Rory McVeigh,
referring to the dollar weakness over the last couple of weeks.
"Not much but enough in a very thin market to lift it."
Platinum's strength lifted sister metal palladium nearly 6
percent higher to $226.50 an ounce, its highest since Nov. 11.
It was at $220 an ounce versus Wednesday's $208.50 an ounce.
Spot silver <XAG=> firmed to $13.66 an ounce from
Wednesday's $13.45 an ounce.
The poor state of the global economy has boosted investment
appetite for gold since the start of the year, with holdings in
the world's largest exchange-traded fund hitting consecutive
record highs.
But analysts said the pace of the rise was beginning to
slow. "Demand for investment gold is still there, but relatively
slower over the last couple of days," Wolfgang
Wrzesniok-Rossbach, head of sales at Heraeus, said.
The SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings remained at
1,124.99 tonnes on March 25, unchanged from the record hit the
previous day. []
For details on the gold holdings of the ETF listed in New
York and co-listed on other exchanges, click on:
http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
For a graphic, click on:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/MKTS_SPDRGLD240309.jpg
(Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi in Tokyo, Editing by Sue
Thomas)
