* Gold firms near highest in more than a week
* Platinum off highs, lacks physical demand
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
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>.
"I can see some buying but it has slowed down a little bit.
I think they may be running out of bullets," said Beh Hsia Wah,
a dealer at United Overseas Bank in Singapore.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $835.50/836.50 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.
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.
"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.
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.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $2.7 an ounce to
$841.70.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,464.50/1,484.50 an ounce
from $1,449.50/1,469.50 an ounce late in New York, having hit a
1-week high of $1,472.50 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 $291.50/299.50 an ounce
from $286.00/294.00 an ounce. Silver <XAG=> firmed to
$13.88/13.94 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 55 yen per gram
to 2,947 yen.
Precious metals prices at 0727 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 833.90 -1.55 -0.19 0.14
Spot Silver 13.84 0.03 +0.22 -6.30
Spot Platinum 1466.50 16.50 +1.14 -3.52
Spot Palladium 289.50 3.00 +1.05 -21.33
TOCOM Gold 2941.00 49.00 +1.69 -3.89
40109
TOCOM Platinum 5123.00 287.00 +5.93 -4.05
21590
TOCOM Silver 490.50 16.60 +3.50 -9.33
944
TOCOM Palladium 1049.00 25.00 +2.44 -22.35
1346
Euro/Dollar 1.4881
Dollar/Yen 109.01
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
