* 110 billion-euro plan for Greece fails to impress
* Gold in euros, sterling hit record highs
* Investors expecting further gains for bullion
(Recasts, adds quotes, updates prices)
By Veronica Brown
LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a 2010 high in Europe
on Monday, with prices keeping their safe-haven cachet, as a 110
billion-euro aid plan for Greece failed to quell wider concerns
on euro zone debt.
Spot gold <XAU=> was quoted at $1,182.46 an ounce at 1137
GMT, having hit a 2010 high earlier at $1,182.95 an ounce. The
price stood at $1,177.25 late in New York on Friday. Gold hit
record highs in euro <XAUEUR=R> and sterling <XAUGBP=R> terms.
European finance ministers triggered a record 110 billion
euro ($147 billion) bailout for debt-stricken Greece on Sunday
after Athens committed itself to years of painful austerity.
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But markets have broadly been unimpressed, with the euro
failing to hold initial gains <EUR=> and European stock markets
falling <> as fears about the bailout's viability rattled
the very investors it was meant to soothe.
"The financial aid package is only buying time, the
long-term problems still exist. It also seems that market
players had expected a larger package," said Daniel Briesemann,
commodity analyst at Commerzbank. There had been talk of a 120
billion euro ($159.8 billion) package before the weekend.
GOLD FUTURES
U.S. June gold futures <GCM0> rose to highs not seen since
Dec 2009, rising to $1,184.00 an ounce. Silver <XAG=> took its
lead from gold, firming to $18.69 from $18.59 on Friday.
While European markets contained a dose of scepticism on the
Greek package, U.S. stock market futures were pointing to a
positive start, which may weigh slightly on prices later in the
day. U.S. stock futures <SPc1> were up 0.4 percent.
Trading activity was expected to remain fairly thin on
Monday with Britain, Japan, China and Thailand closed on Monday
for public holidays.
Gold gained almost 6 percent in April, its biggest one-month
rise since November, as the credit ratings downgrades of Greece,
Spain and Portugal unleashed a wave of risk aversion,
channelling money into gold.
Based on Reuters technical data, gold is on a bullish trend
towards $1,261 per ounce.[] On Friday, prices were
less than $50 away from record highs hit late last year at
$1,226.10.
"There is still very strong safe haven demand for gold. It
seems like investors are still nervous about what still might
come despite the package for Greece. I wouldn't rule out that we
might touch new highs in dollar-gold as well," a European trader
said.
In other precious metals, platinum <XPT=> slipped to
$1,734.00 from $1,739.50 quoted late on Friday in New York,
while palladium <XPD=> also fell to $543.50 an ounce from
$551.50.
Both metals have seen as setback in line with risk aversion
across other key commodity markets as investors, worried about
the bottom line effect of the euro zone concerns, backed away
from so-called riskier assets.
The platinum group metals, used mainly to clean auto
emissions, have benefitted from expectations for auto sales to
motor out of crisis mode this year.
"A deterioration in physical demand cannot really be ruled
out in view of the debt-crisis and ETF purchases, not just in
the USA, are also showing little dynamic," Heraeus said in a
research note on platinum.
(Additional Reporting by James Regan in Sydney; editing by Sue
Thomas)
