* Dollar's fall buoys gold, outweighs risk appetite
recovery
* Gold holds above $925 after stop-loss orders triggered
* Holdings by SPDR gold ETF <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> unchanged
(Updates prices)
By Chikako Mogi
TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a five-week high
above $925 on Wednesday as investors focused on the dollar's
weakness, boosting its appeal as an alternative to the
greenback, but a resurgence in risk appetite may limit
bullion's gain.
The dollar slumped to a four-month low against a basket of
currencies on Wednesday and faces renewed selling amid a
recovery in risk appetite that has curbed safe-having buying.
[]
"The U.S. dollar has shown substantial weakness in the last
two weeks, and there is quite a strong downward momentum in the
currency which is supporting gold prices," said Toby Hassall,
an analyst with Commodity Warrants Australia.
"Gold is a currency in itself, so weakness in the U.S.
dollar provides strong support to gold even if we see investors
reallocating money back to equities or commodities such as
crude oil or raw materials," he said.
Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.6 percent to $927.20 per ounce at
0614 GMT, from New York's notional close of $921.85. It earlier
rose to $928.30, the highest since April 2.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCM9> were $928.8 an
ounce, up 0.5 percent from the previous settlement, adding to
Tuesday's $10.4 gain on the COMEX division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
A Singapore-based trader said gold's upward momentum was
triggered after stop-loss orders were hit at $925, lifting
prices above $927.
"There's been a follow-through buying but physical selling
is capping tops, keeping trading in a $925-$927 range," he
said.
A Tokyo-based trader said Vietnam was selling gold when
prices jumped $2 earlier.
"Vietnam has been seen selling constantly when prices
jump," he said.
With investors seeing stock market gains as reflecting
increasing optimism over the economy, money flowing into
gold-backed securities has stalled.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said holdings stood at 1,104.09 tonnes
on May 12, unchanged since May 6. []
Asian stocks were higher, tracking a rise in the Dow Jones
industrial average on Tuesday. []
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Japan's biggest commodity
exchange, resumed trading as usual on Wednesday a day after
trading of all products was suspended for more than three hours
due to technical trouble, only a week after the launch of a new
trading platform. []
Precious metals prices at 0634 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 927.20 5.35 +0.58 11.35
Spot Silver 14.31 0.12 +0.85 -3.11
Spot Platinum 1135.00 5.00 +0.44 -25.33
Spot Palladium 233.00 0.50 +0.22 -36.68
TOCOM Gold 2894.00 24.00 +0.84 -5.42
24610
TOCOM Platinum 3551.00 41.00 +1.17 -33.49
12508
TOCOM Silver 441.50 12.20 +2.84 -18.39
309
TOCOM Palladium 742.00 -6.00 -0.80 -45.08
605
Euro/Dollar 1.3690
Dollar/Yen 96.59
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Miho Yoshikawa and Risa Maeda;
Editing by Ben Tan)
