* Gold extends NY gains
* SPDR gold holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> dip 1.4 pct
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, July 15 (Reuters) - Gold rose past $925 on Wednesday,
bouncing back from a brief dip of about 1 percent when equities
lost some ground.
Bullion last week lost some of its attraction to risk-averse
investors seeking an inflation hedge, causing the metal to lose
nearly $20 in the week, hitting a two-month low.
"Gold very briefly dipped after the Nikkei lost some of its
gains today, and the euro was sold a bit," said Kazuhiko Saito,
chief analyst at Tokyo's Fujitomi Co Ltd.
But, he added that gold bounced back as the euro was quickly
purchased again.
Gold <XAU=> was at $927.70 ounce at 0301 GMT, up 0.3 percent
from New York's notional close of $924.60.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> were at $926.7
per ounce, up 0.4 percent from Tuesday's settlement.
Japan's Nikkei average <> closed up 0.08 percent, but
off the day's high.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said holdings fell to 1,094.54 tonnes as
of July 14, declining for the first time in about a week.
Holdings were down 15.27 tonnes, or 1.4 percent. []
Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia, said
the dip was a reflection of the weak sentiment in last week's
market when bullion slipped to around $905.
"So it was not surprising to see some investor interest being
unwound," he said.
He added, however, that he would not read too much into the
decline.
"I wouldn't consider it a change to the overall picture,
which I think is still relatively positive for gold," Heathcote
said.
In contrast, the world's largest silver-backed
exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its
silver holdings rose 0.5 percent to hit a record.
The New York-based trust said it added 42.07 tonnes, to reach
an all-time high of 8,766.93 tonnes as of July 14. []
In industry-related news, workers in South Africa's gold
sector rejected the latest offer for a pay rise of between 8
percent and 10 percent, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
said on Tuesday. []
The union said that a strike in the gold sector was "highly
likely" after the rejection.
The yen maintained a soft tone on Wednesday, after falling
the previous day. []
PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0609 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 927.15 2.55 +0.28 5.34
Spot Silver 12.96 0.08 +0.62 14.49
Spot Platinum 1139.00 11.50 +1.02 22.21
Spot Palladium 240.00 -1.00 -0.41 30.08
TOCOM Gold 2799.00 30.00 +1.08 8.78 24928
TOCOM Platinum 3446.00 87.00 +2.59 29.94 9511
TOCOM Silver 390.30 3.50 +0.90 22.24 136
TOCOM Palladium 737.00 21.00 +2.93 34.00 193
Euro/Dollar 1.4010
Dollar/Yen 93.59
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Joseph Radford)
