(Adds quotes, details)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Gold and platinum hit record
highs for a third straight day on Tuesday and silver rallied to
its highest in 27 years on Tuesday, on supply worries and
expectations of more U.S. interest rate cuts.
Gold <XAU=> rose as high as $929.40 an ounce, up from
$927.50/928.20 late in New York on Monday, driven by technical
buying and purchases from Japanese speculators ahead of a U.S.
Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates this week.
Spot platinum <XPT=> hit a high of $1,735 an ounce, up from
$1,720/1,725 late in New York on Monday, as speculative buying
from investors as well as auto makers accelerated on fears
about output in South Africa.
"There may be a chance for platinum to visit $2,000 because
of a supply and demand imbalance," said Ronald Leung, director
of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
"There's demand in platinum and supply is not enough."
South African mining companies said on Monday they hoped to
resume production later this week, but there was no sign of an
end to power shortages that have put jobs and economic growth
at risk. []
The power shortage became a national emergency on Friday,
stopping diamond, gold, platinum and other mines in Africa's
biggest economy, and weakening the rand currency.
Expectations the Fed will cut key U.S. interest rates by up
to 0.5 percent at the end of a two-day policy meeting on
Wednesday after last week's 0.75 percent cut also underpinned
sentiment in precious markets.
COMEX gold futures sustained gains, with the most active
February contract <GCG8> hitting another record high at $930 an
ounce.
"A lot of stops were being triggered when the price broke
$925. Tomorrow night, the Fed will announce the rate cut
decision, that's why there might be some buying ahead," said
William Kwan, a dealer at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"For spot basis, I am looking at $945 for the upside," he
said.
Leung's Lee Cheong Gold Dealers said weaker U.S. dollar and
interest rate cut hopes supported gold but the possibility of a
correction lingered.
"We may see some sell-off after the announcement. It may
consolidate after that," he said.
Silver <XAG=> rose as high as $16.76, its best level since
December 1980, to track firm gold. The metal was last quoted at
$16.67/16.72 in New York.
The benchmark platinum futures contract for December
delivery <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose by its
daily 120 yen limit to 5,555 yen a gram on Tuesday, after the
metal rose to a record high in New York.
The euro <EUR=> was little changed at $1.4785, after
matching a two-week high near $1.4800.
Palladium <XPD=> rose to $387.00/391.00 ounce from
$384.00/388.00 late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0233 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 926.80 -0.70 -0.08 11.30
Spot Silver 16.67 -0.03 -0.18 12.86
Spot Platinum 1717.00 -3.00 -0.17 12.96
Spot Palladium 386.00 2.00 +0.52 4.89
TOCOM Gold 3211.00 51.00 +1.61 4.93
51776
TOCOM Platinum 5555.00 120.00 +2.21 4.05
3827
TOCOM Silver 577.70 11.30 +2.00 6.78
869
TOCOM Palladium 1350.00 35.00 +2.66 -0.07
671
Euro/Dollar 1.4761
Dollar/Yen 106.47
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)
