(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Gold crept up on Tuesday,
with crude oil hovering near a record high, but investors were
cautious after the metal failed to hold above $950 an ounce.
Platinum dropped more than 1 percent to below $2,000 as
profit taking persisted since a spike to a one-month high last
week, dragging down the price of sister metal palladium. Silver
edged up to track firmer gold.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $916.00/917.00 an ounce from
$913.80/914.60 late in New York on Monday, aided by purchases
at lower levels by jewellery makers.
"Investors have been cautious about gold's short-term
outlook," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold
Dealers in Hong Kong.
"I think gold is still in the same wide range of $850 to
$950. For the time being, $900 should be the good support.
We've seen a little bit of physical buying at these levels."
Gold rallied to a three-week high of $952.60 on April 17
before profit taking kicked in and dragged down prices to as
low as $904.35 the following day. It has lost more than 10
percent in value since hitting a lifetime high of $1,030.80 on
March 17.
Gold futures for June delivery <GCM8> on the COMEX division
of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $2.1 an ounce to
$919.8 an ounce.
Oil <CLc1> held near record high above $117 per barrel on
Tuesday, driven by supply threats after rebel attacks on
pipelines in Nigeria and a bearish dollar. Firm oil lifts
gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation.
The euro was steady at $1.5913 <EUR=>, not far from the
record high of $1.5985 hit on trading platform EBS last week.
The dollar hardly moved at 103.21 yen <JPY=>, having fallen
from a seven-week peak of 104.66 yen hit on EBS late last week.
"I guess the upside for gold is limited, even with oil
above $117. That's because there's no follow through above
$950," said a dealer in Singapore.
"Platinum is very volatile given the wide spreads. I think
all precious metals will trade lower this week but the
long-term outlook is still bullish," he said.
Gold has gained on speculative buying spurred by record
high oil prices and expectations of further interest rate cuts
in the United States, which has reduced the dollar's appeal.
Platinum roared to a record high of 2,290 an ounce on March
4 on supply concerns after a power shortage disrupted mining in
main producer South Africa.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell to $1,980/1,990 an ounce from
$2,005/2,015 late in New York.
The most active Tokyo platinum futures <0#JPL:> dropped
more than 3 percent to track a weak cash market. The February
2009 contract ended the morning session 220 yen per gram lower
at 6,387 yen.
Silver <XAG=> edged up to $17.42/17.48 an ounce from
$17.39/17.44 an ounce. Spot palladium <XPD=> fell to $449/454
an ounce from $450/454 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0229 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 916.00 2.20 +0.24 10.00
Spot Silver 17.42 0.03 +0.17 17.94
Spot Platinum 1983.00 -22.00 -1.10 30.46
Spot Palladium 449.00 -1.00 -0.22 22.01
TOCOM Gold 3054.00 -35.00 -1.13 -0.20
25711
TOCOM Platinum 6387.00 -220.00 -3.33 19.63
17297
TOCOM Silver 580.50 -18.90 -3.15 7.30
574
TOCOM Palladium 1516.00 -31.00 -2.00 12.21
667
Euro/Dollar 1.5916
Dollar/Yen 103.01
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
