(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Gold bounced on Friday after a
drop from a one-month high spurred buying from bargain hunters,
but jewellers stayed on the sidelines, awaiting clues from the
energy market.
Spot gold <XAU=> firmed to $927.15/928.05 an ounce from
$917.60/918.80 an ounce late in New York on Thursday, when it
jumped to its highest in more than a month at $935.30 before
falling sharply on profit taking and as oil trimmed gains.
But gold has struggled to sustain the uptrend since spiking
to a lifetime high of $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17, falling to
a four-month low of $845 an ounce in early May as investors
booked profits.
"I don't sense there's huge enthusiasm right now for gold,"
said Stephen Briggs, economist at SG Corporate and Investment
Banking.
"So I suspect for the moment it's going to remain sort of
start tracking inversely, if you like, the dollar," he added.
Oil <CLc1> ralied to over $133 a barrel on Friday, on a
weaker dollar and on nagging concerns about stagnating output in
Russia and other producers outside OPEC. [].
The euro slipped to $1.5752 <EUR=> from around $1.5765 but
it was still up 0.2 percent from late Thursday.
In theory, expensive oil lifts gold's appeal as a hedge
against inflation.
"Resistance is still around the $935-$940 area, so unless we
see a retest of that region soon, we may just head down towards
the $900-$905 supports," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Philip
Futures in Singapore.
"I think physical buying will probably come around the
supports of $900-$905 levels. But if they think prices will go
up much more, then i think now is a good time."
Gold futures for June delivery <GCM8> on the COMEX division
of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $8.0 an ounce to
$926.3 an ounce.
In other precious metals, platinum regained some footing
after falling from a two-month high the previous day as
speculators booked profits. Spot platinum <XPT=> firmed to
$2,163.00/2,183.00 an ounce from $2,156.50/2,176.50.
"Certainly the fundamentals remain very bullish. Fresh highs
above $2,300 are quite easily on the cards, either in the next
few weeks and certainly the later part of the year," said James
Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.
Refiner Johnson Matthey <JMAT.L> said this week platinum
could spike to a record high of $2,500 in 2008 due to
production shortfalls and strong demand, and supplies would
likely struggle disruptions main producer South Africa.
Platinum struck a record of $2,290 an ounce on March 4 due
to power shortage in South Africa which disrupted mining.
On Thursday, state-owned power utility Eskom
warned that the risk of emergency power cuts had increased
significantly due to technical problems. []
Spot silver <XAG=> rose as high as $18.26 an ounce, its
highest level since April 18, to track gains in gold. The metal
was last quoted at $17.92/17.98 late in New York.
Spot palladium <XPD=> rose to $450/458 an ounce from
$448/456 an ounce.
(Editing by Editing by Peter Blackburn)
