* Premiums for gold bars jump to 2-year high
* Gold to rebound to $1,388/oz-technicals []
* Coming Up: U.S. ICSC chain stores; 1245 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Gold inched up on Tuesday on
persistent worries about indebted euro zone countries, while
purchases from investors and jewellers pushed up premiums for
gold bars to their highest in two years.
Bullion's drop to its lowest in more than a month last week
also helped lift premiums for gold bars, with demand picking
up ahead of the Lunar New Year celebration in February. Gold
bars were offered at a premium of $3 to the spot London prices
in Hong Kong, matching a similar level seen in late 2008.
Spot gold rose $1.35 an ounce to $1,375.80 an ounce
by 0640 GMT. Gold was well below a historical high of around
$1,430 struck in December.
"There's a huge demand from China. Refineries just opened
and there's not much stock around, so it's a bit tight," said
Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
Investors will also closely watch the developments in
Portugal, which is widely seen as the country next in line in
the euro zone to need a bailout after Greece and Ireland, said
Leung.
Gold will rebound into a range of $1,388-$1,392 per ounce
as an upward wave "c" is advancing, according to Wang Tao, a
Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
For a 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20111101083145.jpg
The euro on Tuesday hovered above a four-month trough hit
the previous day, after Japan said it may buy about a fifth of
the bonds a European rescue fund plans to sell later this
month to finance its bailout scheme for Ireland.
The focus this week is on whether Lisbon will be able to
raise funds in the debt market on Wednesday or be forced to
turn to the EU and IMF for financial aid.
U.S. gold futures for February added $2.1 an ounce
to $1,376.2 an ounce.
The physical sector in Singapore was steady after seeing
heavy buying from jewellers in Thailand on Monday, which could
be related to inflation fears there.
Thailand's central bank said on Tuesday it expected rising
inflationary pressure this year if the global and domestic
economies expanded as expected, reinforcing market
expectations of further monetary tightening. []
"Trading is mixed this morning, with moderate trading
volume," said a dealer in Singapore. "The market is currently
short of physical supply. We have no available stocks to offer
except for those who have booked in advance.
China's Lion Fund Management, which last month launched
the first gold fund in the world's biggest producer of the
metal, has met its goal of raising $500 million for the fund,
the company said in a statement. []
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust , said its holdings rose to 1,272.682 tonnes
by Jan. 10 from 1,271.164 tonnes on Jan. 7.
Precious metals prices at 0640 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1375.80 1.35 +0.10 25.56
Spot Silver 29.07 0.02 +0.07 72.73
Spot Platinum 1740.75 2.76 +0.16 18.66
Spot Palladium 754.97 5.00 +0.67 86.18
TOCOM Gold 3688.00 6.00 +0.16 13.16 56190
TOCOM Platinum 4711.00 26.00 +0.55 7.53 11405
TOCOM Silver 78.00 0.70 +0.91 50.87 1594
TOCOM Palladium 2047.00 11.00 +0.54 75.71 638
Euro/Dollar 1.2953
Dollar/Yen 83.02
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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