(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Gold extended falls on
Tuesday after the U.S. Treasury said it would support gold
sales by the International Monetary Fund, which holds more than
3,000 tonnes of bullion.
The Treasury had resisted seeking congressional approval
for the gold sales until the move was tied to an IMF cost
cutting plan, and has enough votes in the Fund to block any
sales.
Platinum retreated as investors booked profit from last
week's record high, palladium was below a 6-1/2-year high and
silver held near its best level in 27 years.
Gold <XAU=> fell to $934.00/934.80 an ounce from
$937.80/938.60 an ounce late in New York on Monday, but
remained within sight of last week's historic high of $953.60
an ounce.
"In my opinion, the IMF gold sales will not push the price
of gold down, but psychologically, it might," said William
Kwan, a dealer at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
The IMF is the world's third-largest gold holder, with
3,217.3 tonnes tonnes of bullion reserves. The last IMF gold
sales in December 1999 and April 2000 were not put through the
spot markets.
"IMF gold sales will not flow into the physical market. It
only transits from one central bank to another. That's all,"
said Kwan.
Any sale of IMF gold would also be done in accordance with
a European central bank gold accord, which limits total gold
sales to 500 tonnes a year.
"If there's no follow through on the downside for gold, I
think it's a good chance for investors and small specs to buy
on margins," said Kwan.
"The upside is still $950. Once it's broken, I can tell you
gold could see $1,000," he said
The dollar was steady at 108.05 yen <JPY=>, while the euro
was barely changed at $1.4825 <EUR=>, near a three-week high of
$1.4863 struck on electronic trading platform EBS on Friday.
"Gold bulls have the solid near-term technical advantage
and are looking for more on the upside in the near term," said
Pradeep Unni, analyst at Vision Commodities in Dubai.
"$950 is more of a psychological resistance, which could be
easily taken out in the coming days," he said.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $2,131/2,138 an ounce from
$2,135/2,145 an ounce and off last week's record high of $2,192
an ounce.
Japanese platinum futures were also off record highs. The
most active December contract <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity
Exchange ended the morning session 41 yen per gram lower at
7,148 yen.
Palladium <XPD=> fell to $515.00/520.00 an ounce from
$520/525 an ounce late in New York.
Silver <XAG=> edged up $18.08/18.13 an ounce from
$18.07/18.12 an ounce -- not far from a 27-year peak of $18.15
hit on Monday.
Precious metals prices at 0205 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 934.60 -5.00 -0.53 12.24
Spot Silver 18.07 0.00 +0.00 22.34
Spot Platinum 2133.00 -2.00 -0.09 40.33
Spot Palladium 515.00 -5.00 -0.96 39.95
TOCOM Gold 3261.00 -30.00 -0.91 6.57
34906
TOCOM Platinum 7148.00 -41.00 -0.57 33.88
8259
TOCOM Silver 631.00 1.90 +0.30 16.64
1286
TOCOM Palladium 1834.00 12.00 +0.66 35.75
7707
Euro/Dollar 1.4821
Dollar/Yen 107.93
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)
