* Dollar edges down, after rallying on Wednesday
* Gold signal biased to rise -technicals []
* Coming up: U.S. initial jobless claims; 1230 GMT
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Gold prices inched higher on
Thursday, and the dollar edged lower, as investors reassessed
expectations of the Federal Reserve's decision next week on
monetary easing.
Most leading economists expect the Fed to buy between $80
billion and $100 billion worth of assets each month in a new
program to stimulate the economy, a Reuters poll showed.
[]
"Gold prices are likely to be rangebound in the short term,
as investors wait for the Fed's decision next week. We've seen
different opinions on what the Fed would do and how the dollar
would move," said Zhu Yilin, general manager of the research
and development department of Jingyi Futures in Shanghai.
The range would be between $1,300 to $1,350, Zhu added.
On the physical market, Indian buyers were bargain hunting
and scrap sellers were holding back for higher prices, dealers
said.
Spot gold <XAU=> edged up 0.2 percent to $1,326.84 an ounce
by 0307 GMT, reversing losses in the previous session.
U.S. gold futures <GCZ0> rose 0.4 percent to $1,327.5 an
ounce.
The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, on spot gold has
retreated sharply from a heavily overbought level above 80 in
early October. It dropped to 50.009, its lowest since early
August, and bounced a touch to 50.486 on Thursday.
Spot gold <XAU=> is biased to return to the wave "A" or
wave (2) high of $1,349.20 per ounce, even though its signal is
mixed at the moment, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst.
[]
For a 24-hour technical outlook on gold, see:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20102810091521.jpg
A short-covering bounce in the dollar paused on Thursday,
but traders said a rise in U.S. Treasury yields could prompt
more buybacks in the greenback before the Federal Reserve's
policy meeting next week. []
Gold traders in India, the world's largest consumer of
bullion, picked bargains for a second week in a row to stock
for ongoing festival and wedding demand, and dealers said
premiums steadied at their last week's levels of $1.10-$1.15 an
ounce.
"Most of the buying happened in the last week and it's
still continuing. October is turning out to be a good month,"
said Rahul Gupta, director with New Delhi-based retailer, PP
Jewellers, referring to gold sales.
Scrap selling is scarce after gold prices retreated from
record highs, dealers in Hong Kong said, resulting in a slight
improvement in physical premiums, at about 80 cents to a
dollar.
Spot silver <XAG=> climbed half a percent to $23.64 an
ounce, after JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> and HSBC Holdings Plc
<HSBA.L> were hit with two lawsuits on Wednesday by investors
who accused them of conspiring to drive down silver prices.
[]
Palladium <XPD=> rose 0.6 percent to $616.55, after hitting
a nine-year high at $636.25 in the previous session.
Precious metals prices at 0307 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1326.84 2.14 +0.16 21.10
Spot Silver 23.64 0.11 +0.47 40.46
Spot Platinum 1673.00 1.00 +0.06 14.04
Spot Palladium 616.55 3.92 +0.64 52.05
TOCOM Gold 3492.00 -19.00 -0.54 7.15
28854
TOCOM Platinum 4436.00 -64.00 -1.42 1.26
12425
TOCOM Silver 62.20 -0.50 -0.80 20.31
643
TOCOM Palladium 1624.00 -16.00 -0.98 39.40
879
Euro/Dollar 1.3808
Dollar/Yen 81.60
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar in MUMBAI)
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
