* Gold seen solid, but unlikely to rise to record
* SPDR Gold holdings steady at 1,111.922 tonnes
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Monday to near $1,100
per ounce after the dollar edged down, helping bullion come off a
one-month low hit in the previous session when commodities dipped
on President Barack Obama's proposal to limit financial
risk-taking.
Obama's plans to restrict banks or financial institutions
from associating with a hedge fund or a private equity fund,
which was unveiled on Thursday, caused stocks, the dollar and
commodities to tumble. []
Some market participants say, however, that fears in the
commodities market about Obama's plan were out of proportion, and
that gold would rise again.
Wong Eng Soon, an investment analyst at Singapore's Phillip
Futures Pte Ltd, said: "It seems that the economy is improving
and ... commodities will be able to appreciate as a whole."
But he said gold was unlikely to repeat last year's stellar
performance, which took prices to a record high above $1,220 in
December.
"I don't think this year's gold price will be as high as last
year's ... because as the economy gets stronger we shouldn't be
expecting the funds to put their assets into a safe-haven asset,
they'll want to take more risks," Wong said.
Gold benefited last year from a rise in investor interest in
commodities as an alternative asset to stocks, bonds and cash due
to the economic downturn from late 2008.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,098.90 per ounce as of 0303 GMT,
up about 0.7 percent from New York's notional close of $1,091.65.
It touched a high of $1,099.25.
Bullion hit a one-month low of $1,081.90 on Friday, although
the dollar's decline provided some support.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> rose 0.8
percent to $1,098.60 per ounce, compared to the $1,089.70
settlement on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange. It sank to a one-month low of $1,081.90 on Friday.
Industrial metals platinum and palladium also rallied on
Monday.
Spot platinum <XPT=> was at $1,554.00 per ounce, up from
$1,546.50 in late New York, while spot palladium <XPD=> fetched
$434.75, up from $430.50.
The two metals, valued for their use in automobile catalytic
converters, have been trading at multi-month highs recently after
the launch of U.S.-based exchange-traded funds backed by the
metals this month.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,111.922 tonnes as
of Jan. 22, unchanged from the previous business day. []
Noncommercial net long U.S. gold futures positions fell 3.4
percent to 221,469 lots in the week to Jan. 19 from 229,342 lots,
a weekly report by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
showed. []
PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0252 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1098.25 6.60 +0.60 0.23
Spot Silver 17.10 0.14 +0.83 1.60
Spot Platinum 1552.50 6.00 +0.39 5.83
Spot Palladium 434.75 4.25 +0.99 7.21
TOCOM Gold 3195.00 15.00 +0.47 -1.96 48870
TOCOM Platinum 4502.00 3.00 +0.07 2.76 20838
TOCOM Silver 50.20 -0.80 -1.57 -2.90 626
TOCOM Palladium 1259.00 -1.00 -0.08 8.07 581
Euro/Dollar 1.4163
Dollar/Yen 90.19
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Watson)
