* Gold climbs back above $980/oz on flight to safety
* SPDR gold, iShares silver ETFs hit record levels
* Anglo American cuts platinum output target by 300,000 oz
(Updates throughout, changes dateline - pvs TOKYO)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Gold climbed in Europe on Friday
as risk aversion fuelled buying, but profit-taking capped the
precious metal below the last session's seven-month high.
Spot gold <XAU=> rose to $980.15/981.75 an ounce at 1033 GMT
from $973.75 late in New York on Thursday. Earlier that session
it struck a high of $985.95, its firmest level since July 15,
but failed to maintain its upward momentum.
"In the short term there may be an attempt to lock in some
profits," said Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen. "It is not
every week you have a commodity rising 6 percent."
He said the deteriorating macroeconomic picture and inflows
into exchange-traded funds were currently the main influences on
the gold price, now that the metal's traditionally close
relationship with the dollar had broken down.
More investment flowed into precious metals-backed ETFs on
Thursday, with figures released earlier showing both the largest
gold ETF and the biggest silver-backed fund climbing to record
levels.
New York's SPDR Gold Trust <GLD> said its holdings rose
nearly 5 tonnes to a record 1,028.98 tonnes on Thursday, while
the iShares Silver Trust's <SLV> silver holdings climbed 18.4
tonnes to an all-time high of 7,892 tonnes. []
[]
Investors fear the U.S. stimulus package signed off this
week may not be enough to stimulate the economy and shore up the
ailing financial system, analysts said.
"Gold investors hear 'trillions and trillions' and 'bailout
after bailout' and look at gold as the only asset good for
capital preservation," said MF Global analyst Tom Pawlicki in a
note.
"This should keep gold buoyant in the near-term as investors
flock to both futures and ETFs."
Equity markets tumbled on Friday, with world stocks dropping
to their weakest since November and eyeing six-year lows. The
U.S. Dow index hit a six-year low on Thursday. Falling stocks
boost the appeal of safe-haven assets like gold. []
The precious metal's usual external drivers, oil and dollar,
exerted little influence. Gold traditionally moves in the
opposite direction to the U.S. currency, as it can be used as a
hedge against dollar weakness, and in line with oil.
The dollar climbed on Friday, along with the yen, as global
economic woes, falling equity markets and worries about the
prospect of a deepening recession in eastern Europe sparked
buying of safer assets. []
Meanwhile oil prices, which often pull gold in their wake,
weakened as fears over the weakening global economy depressed
the demand outlook. []
Among other precious metals, spot silver <XAG=> climbed to
$14.18/14.24 an ounce from $13.01.
Spot platinum <XPT=> edged up to $1,082.50/1,087.50 an ounce
from $1,066.50, while spot palladium <XPD=> was little changed
at $214/222 an ounce from $213.50.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, whose Anglo Platinum <AMSJ.J> unit
is the world's largest platinum producer, saw its shares tumble
more than 10 percent after it scrapped its final dividend and
said it will cut 19,000 jobs. []
The company has sliced its 2009 platinum output forecast by
300,000 ounces, chief executive Cynthia Carroll said.
Elsewhere, Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet noted Swiss
import/export data shows a jump in platinum exports in January.
"After being a net importer of close to 3,150 kilograms of
platinum in December, 8,764 kilograms of the metal left
Switzerland in January," he said. "The main destination was
Asia."
Switzerland is the hub of physical platinum trade and its
trade flows are indicative of demand for the metal, he said.
(Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Peter Blackburn)
