* Gold eases on weaker oil
* Palladium near 2-month high, and platinum also firms
* Dollar steadies against yen and euro
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, June 18 (Reuters) - Gold slipped on Wednesday as
oil extended losses on expectations Saudi Arabia will soon
boost output.
Palladium hovered near its highest level in two months on
speculative buying, catching up with recent gains in other
precious metals, while Tokyo platinum futures jumped to their
highest level in three weeks.
Gold <XAU=> fell to $882.85/883.85 an ounce from
$884.20/885.40 late in New York on Tuesday, when the metal
reversed early losses and firmed on a weaker dollar.
Gold rallied to its highest level in a week at $894.70 on
Monday due to a falling dollar, but was still well below a
record high of $1,030.80 hit in mid-March.
"The market has lost direction but still focuses on oil
prices and the performance of euro," said Louis Lok, a dealer
at Bank of China in Hong Kong.
"Trendwise, there's a downside performance. Every time the
market breaks $900, it will retrace quickly," said Lok, who
expected gold to trade in a tight range of $880 to $888.
Gold futures for August delivery <GCQ8> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.1 an ounce
to $885.9.
The dollar steadied against the yen after falling the
previous day as U.S. housing starts plunged to a 17-year low,
casting more doubt over how much the Federal Reserve might
boost interest rates in coming months. <USD/>.
Oil <CLc1> fell 61 cents to $133.40 a barrel. United
Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said over the weekend thatSaudi
Arabia was set to raise its oil output to 9.7 millionbarrels
per day in July, up 550,000 bpd from May.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $2,075.00/2,095.00 an ounce
from $2,052.00/2,072.00 late in New York.
Spot palladium <XPD=> rose to $459.50/467.50 an ounce from
$456.50/464.50. It hit a high of $464 an ounce on Tuesday, its
strongest level since mid-April.
"Since there's no severe sell down in gold and no large
gains in the dollar, platinum and palladium are likely to
maintain their steady uptrend," said Adrian Koh, analyst with
Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"I see that palladium is approaching technical resistance
around the $466 region. So perhaps $466 may provide a bit of a
resistance or maybe some investors may take some profits after
recent gains," he said.
The most active Tokyo platinum contract for April 2009
delivery <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange ended the
morning session 62 yen per gram higher at 7,088 yen. The
contract hit a high of 7,096 yen -- its highest level since May
27.
Silver <XAG=> edged up to $17.09/17.16 an ounce from
$17.05/17.13 late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0243 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 883.80 1.90 +0.22 6.14
Spot Silver 17.11 0.10 +0.59 15.84
Spot Platinum 2075.00 23.00 +1.12 36.51
Spot Palladium 459.50 3.00 +0.66 24.86
TOCOM Gold 3093.00 -13.00 -0.42 1.08
13699
TOCOM Platinum 7088.00 62.00 +0.88 32.76
14492
TOCOM Silver 600.60 -8.40 -1.38 11.02
455
TOCOM Palladium 1646.00 -4.00 -0.24 21.84
1406
Euro/Dollar 1.5497
Dollar/Yen 107.92
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
