* Physical buying below $910 limits declines
* SPDR Gold holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> unchanged since July 8
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Gold prices inched below $920 an
ounce on Tuesday, taking a breather after solid gains in U.S.
equities on optimism about upcoming corporate earnings helped
bullion rally above that level a day earlier.
Physical buying limited declines, but a lack of demand for
hedging against inflation or other investments curbed further
buying, traders said.
Concerns about economic recovery prospects have been
weighing on oil prices and supporting the dollar, instead of
gold, as a safe-haven asset.
"We see physical buying below $910, but when it reaches
around $920, the buying is all gone," said Ronald Leung,
director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
"The investment side is still on the sidelines," he said,
adding that the gold market is likely to be caught in a range of
between $905 and $925 for some time.
Spot gold <XAU=> had fallen 0.3 percent to a low of $917.60
an ounce before inching up to $919.50 by 0542 GMT, little
changed from New York's notional close of $920.00 on Monday,
when it rose as high as $923.10, the highest since July 8.
It hit a two-month low of $905.80 last week.
Gold drew some support on Monday from a recovery in oil
prices.
The yellow metal was pressured by worries over the global
economy and broad-based weakness in commodities that was fuelled
partly by U.S. regulatory pressure to limit speculation in
energy and metals markets.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> fell 0.3
percent to $919.80 an ounce after rising $10, or 1.1 percent, on
the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on
Monday.
The currency market failed to give gold clear directional
clues. On Monday, the euro gained ground versus the dollar as
positive comments from a bank analyst helped boost hopes that
earnings of U.S. financial companies may not be as weak as
initially feared, and lifted global equities.
The dollar inched up 0.3 percent versus the yen <JPY=> from
late U.S. trade, while the euro <EUR=> was steady against the
dollar. []
Investors are looking towards upcoming data and U.S.
second-quarter corporate earnings results to gauge the outlook
for the world's biggest economy in the second half of the year.
Poor results could make investors risk-averse and trigger a
sell-off in equities, but traders said it was not clear if such
money would flow into gold.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,109.81
tonnes as of July 13, unchanged since July 8. []
Silver was unchanged at $12.82 per ounce from the notional
New York close. It hit a fresh 10-week low of $12.44 on Monday
as economic worries helped investors to focus on the white
metal's industrial uses.
Precious metals prices at 0545 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 919.65 -0.35 -0.04 4.49
Spot Silver 12.83 0.01 +0.08 13.34
Spot Platinum 1117.00 7.00 +0.63 19.85
Spot Palladium 234.00 1.00 +0.43 26.83
TOCOM Gold 2766.00 60.00 +2.22 7.50 33719
TOCOM Platinum 3365.00 111.00 +3.41 26.89 12092
TOCOM Silver 386.60 15.80 +4.26 21.08 358
TOCOM Palladium 716.00 19.00 +2.73 30.18 239
Euro/Dollar 1.3982
Dollar/Yen 93.20
(Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Chris
Gallagher)
