* Gold up on bargain hunting, still below 4-month low
* Platinum off 2-month low on physical buying
* Oil steadies around $134 a barrel
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, July 17 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Thursday
after falling more than 1 percent in New York on a drop in oil
prices, while bargain hunters also plucked platinum from its
lowest level in more than two months.
Gold hovered below a four-month high, while platinum
suffered from fears of falling demand for autocatalysts as the
U.S. economy weakens and on news Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and
General Motors Corp<GM.N> expected declines in sales.
Gold <XAU=> was at $963.00/963.90 an ounce, barely changed
from $963.10/964.10 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday. It
hit an intraday high of $966.05 on buying from Japanese
investors, with a rebound in oil offering additional support.
"For the time being, gold probably remains very volatile
but is still supported at higher levels," said David Moore,
analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"I think gold in recent weeks has got significant support
from the higher oil price, U.S. dollar fragility and the
uncertain outlook for returns from other assets," he said.
Gold, which hit a four-month high of $987.75 an ounce on
Tuesday, has seen a wave of safe-haven buying from investors on
record high oil, weak stock markets and concerns over the
outlook for the U.S. financial system.
The metal struck a lifetime peak of $1,030.80 in March.
The physical market was slow due to a holiday in Thailand
and a lack of interest from Indonesia and dealers expected
buying from jewellers to emerge below $960. Platinum saw light
physical buying at lower levels, said dealers.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,928.50/1,948.50 an ounce
from $1,919.00/1,939.00 late in New York, having hit an
intraday low of $1,913.50 an ounce, its lowest level since
early May.
"Platinum does look a bit weaker compared with gold. From a
technical point of view, the failure to move above the previous
$2,050 level shows the market is a bit bearish," said a dealer
in Singapore.
Platinum has lost nearly 16 percent in value since striking
a record high of $2,290 an ounce in March.
The most active Tokyo platinum contract for June 2009
delivery <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 17 yen
per gram to 6,432 yen, having fallen by the 300 yen daily limit
on Wednesday.
Oil <CLc1> was up 26 cents at $134.86 after settling nearly 3
percent lower on Wednesday, when a U.S. government report
showed a surpriseincrease in inventories. []
The euro edged up to $1.5849 <EUR=> from $1.5825 but has
pulled back from a record peak of $1.6040 struck on trading
platform EBS earlier in the week. []
Gold futures for August delivery <GCQ8> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $1.2 an
ounce to $963.9.
Spot palladium <XPD=> rose to $429.00/437.00 an ounce from
$425.00/433.00 late in New York. Silver <XAG=> edged up to
$18.81/18.87 an ounce from $18.71/18.80 late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0403 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 963.00 3.90 +0.41 15.65
Spot Silver 18.81 0.08 +0.43 27.35
Spot Platinum 1928.50 12.50 +0.65 26.88
Spot Palladium 430.00 4.00 +0.94 16.85
TOCOM Gold 3277.00 -7.00 -0.21 7.09
28860
TOCOM Platinum 6433.00 18.00 +0.28 20.49
15895
TOCOM Silver 640.70 4.40 +0.69 18.43
513
TOCOM Palladium 1486.00 -3.00 -0.20 9.99
842
Euro/Dollar 1.5848
Dollar/Yen 104.86
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
