* Spot gold falls to $881.15 per troy ounce <XAU=>
* Rhodium lengthens gain, tops $1,600/oz <RHOD-LON>
* Bullion gives way as share prices rally
* Investment outflows continue
(Writes through, adds quotes, updates prices)
By Jan Harvey and Veronica Brown
LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Gold fell on Tuesday,
relinquishing earlier gains as global share prices arrested
their decline and overshadowed credit jitters that had
previously heightened bullion's appeal.
Investors pondering whether the economic downturn might be
showing some sign of stabilising capitalised on end-user demand
for auto-material rhodium, extending recent sharp gains.
Global stocks, as measured by MSCI's all-country index,
moved into positive territory <.MIWD00000PUS> as Wall Street
rallied, with some brighter than expected earnings offsetting
concern about corporate profits and papering over worries
sparked by a rise in Bank of America's <BAC.N> bad debts on
Monday []
Spot gold <XAU=> fell to $881.15 an ounce at 1526 GMT,
compared with $884.15 quoted late in New York on Monday. It
earlier touched an intraday high of $894.75.
"We've seen a bit of a disappointing day for gold. The fact
that we failed in front of $900 is a bit of a bear signal and I
wouldn't be surprised if we saw another move lower," said James
Moore, analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.
Physical fundamentals looked promising however. Gold demand
in India, the world's largest bullion buyer, rose from lows
after prices had fallen last week, with trader MMTC Ltd saying
it would import 9-10 tonnes this month. []
The dollar weakened against the euro a touch after the
previous session's gains. Gold is often bought as an alternative
asset to the U.S. currency and typically moves in the opposite
direction to it. []
RHODIUM EXTENDS GAIN
Autocatalyst material rhodium <RHOD-LON> rose another $50 on
Tuesday to $1,625 an ounce, extending stellar gains seen over
the past week.
Prices have climbed nearly 40 percent since last Tuesday --
albeit from lower levels -- with analysts citing end-user demand
in what may be a tentative signal of moderation in the economic
crisis.
Analysts say expectations for rises in Chinese car sales and
auto industry initiatives -- including Germany's cash for
clunkers scrapping scheme to encourage new car purchases -- have
enticed end-users to replenish stocks of the metals and
investors to jump on the bandwagon.
"There's a lot of demand out of China. I think it's car
related and chemical catalyst related. In these small markets
which are unregulated there's also a little bit of investment
demand and that's triggering the price even further," said
Andreas Daniel, head trader at German-based Heraeus Metals.
Ruthenium <RUTH-LON>, used to make computer hard discs, also
rose nearly 7 percent on Tuesday to $80 an ounce.
Concerns over investment demand nagged at the gold price
after key gold-backed exchange-traded funds recorded outflows
last week. Holdings of the world's largest gold ETF, New York's
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, fell 21.7 tonnes last week. []
London's ETF Securities said its largest gold-backed
exchange-traded product, Gold Bullion Securities <GBSx.L>, saw
an outflow of 2.3 percent in the week to Friday. []
Among other precious metals, spot platinum <XPT=> fell to
$1,148.50 an ounce against $1,159.50, while spot palladium
<XPD=> was at $222 an ounce against $225.50. Silver <XAG=> fell
to $12.02 an ounce against $12.04.
(Reporting by Veronica Brown; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
