* Gold may rise to $1,361-tecnicals
* Coming Up: U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI Jan; 1500 GMT
(Updates prices, adds details)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Gold regained strength on
Tuesday, reversing the previous session's losses, and a rise in
ETF holdings for the first time in a week suggested some
investors still had faith in the precious metal despite the
improving tone of U.S. economic data.
Strong oil prices and a deadly unrest in Egypt could
underpin sentiment, but trading slowed down in Asia ahead of the
Lunar New Year celebration later this week. Bullion posted its
first monthly decline in six months in January.
Spot gold added $5.21 to $1,337.11 an ounce by 0326
GMT after falling as low as 1,322.90 on Monday. Gold struck a
record around $1,430 in December on worries the euro debt crisis
would spread and uncertainty in the U.S. economy.
"It sure is so quiet. If I drop a pin now, I can hear the
echo right away," said a dealer in Singapore.
U.S. April gold futures rose $3.4 to $1,337.9 an
ounce, having settled around $7 lower after data showed factory
activity in the U.S. Midwest hit a 22-1/2 year high in January
and another report showed consumer spending ended 2010 on a
firmer footing.
The euro edged up near a two-month high on Tuesday after a
jump in euro zone inflation fuelled expectations of a rate hike
and as worries about unrest in Egypt abated slightly.
Easing worries about the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and
growing expectations the ECB could hike rates sooner than the
U.S. Federal Reserve have supported the euro in recent
weeks .
Spot gold will develop the second upward leg of a rebound
towards $1,361 per ounce, based on its wave pattern and a
Fibonacci projection analysis, according to Wang Tao, who s a
Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
For a 24-hour gold technical outlook: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20110102092159.jpg
"The most importing thing is how far the U.S. has
recovered," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold
Dealers in Hong Kong.
"People are waiting to see whether this is year is a good
year for gold. We have to watch the interest rates. Most
nations, especially in Asia, are trying to fight inflation. They
all have to increase interest rates. This is not really good
news for gold."
China's factory growth slowed a touch in January under the
weight of monetary tightening, but input prices rose quickly,
keeping the pressure on the government to tackle inflation
despite easing growth.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust , said its holdings edged up to 1,227.153 tonnes
by Jan 31 from 1,224.118 tonnes on Jan 28 -- the first rise
since Jan 21.
However, precious metals-backed exchange-traded funds were
on track for record-breaking outflows in January as a run of
well-received economic data prompted investors to sell gold and
silver in favour of other assets.
Precious metals prices 0326 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1337.11 5.21 +0.39 -5.80
Spot Silver 28.18 0.14 +0.50 -8.68
Spot Platinum 1799.49 7.99 +0.45 1.81
Spot Palladium 819.72 7.75 +0.95 2.53
TOCOM Gold 3539.00 2.00 +0.06 -5.10 31669
TOCOM Platinum 4799.00 36.00 +0.76 2.19 5933
TOCOM Silver 74.40 0.80 +1.09 -8.15 562
TOCOM Palladium 2169.00 24.00 +1.12 3.43 460
Euro/Dollar 1.3714
Dollar/Yen 81.97
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Reuters Terminal users can see related news and prices by
double clicking on the codes in brackets:
- All precious metals headlines
- Precious metals market reports
- Daily fixing headlines
- Technical analysis
- Indian gold reports
- European gold prices <0#PREC>
- London interbank gold forward rates <0#GOFO=>
- London silver forwards
- Gold lease rates <0#LGLR=>
- London Bullion Market Association
- New York Comex gold <0#GC:> and silver <0#SI:>
- New York platinum <0#PL:> and palladium <0#PA:>
- Asian gold prices <0#PREC>
- Australian precious metals prices <0#AUPREC=>
- Shanghai Gold Exchange prices
- Hong Kong gold exchange prices
- Hong Kong bullion prices
- Indian bullion prices <0#PREC-IN>
- Japanese producer prices
For Related News and other topics, double click on one of these
codes:
SPEED GUIDES
