(Updates to TOCOM futures close)
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, May 15 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on Thursday
after light buying on a weakening dollar in late Asian trade
helped reverse an earlier decline towards $860.
But trade was slow due to a dearth of fresh news. Underlining
a lack of market direction, gold has been stuck in an $850-$890
band this month.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $865.30/866.10 an ounce as of 0840
GMT, compared with $865.05/866.25 in late New York trade on
Wednesday, when it touched a one-week low of $859.30.
The foreign exchange market failed to provide a catalyst to
set a new direction, with the dollar basically trapped in a
narrow range against the euro.
A weaker dollar was a key factor in gold's spike to a
lifetime high of $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17.
Gold has since retreated, after the euro peaked against the
dollar last month, but its downside was limited as investor
buying propped it up at or above $850 an ounce.
"We don't have fresh factors to focus on," said a source at a
Japanese trading house.
"Even when the euro fell to $1.53 (last week), that didn't
trigger panic selling. Even worse, the euro has now been caught
in range-bound trade," he said.
The euro rose 0.3 percent from late New York trade to $1.5515
<EUR=>, but off a recent high near $1.56 hit last week. []
Against the yen, the dollar fell slightly to 104.80 yen <JPY>.
Gold's appeal somewhat increased as crude oil pared its
recent losses after hitting a record high earlier this week.
Crude oil rose towards $125 in late Asian trade on Thursday,
recovering on the weakening U.S. dollar. Rising U.S. distillates
stocks and Iran's reassurances that it would not cut crude
exports had pushed down prices a day earlier. []
NYMEX crude for June delivery <CLc1> was up 42 cents a barrel
at $124.64. It reached a record near $127 on Tuesday.
The most active June gold futures contract <GCM8> on the
COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $0.4 to
$866.2 an ounce.
Yen-based gold futures for distant April delivery <0#JAU:> on
the Tokyo Commodity Exchange closed up 5 yen a gram at 2,944 yen.
Spot platinum <XPT=> stood at $2,005/2,015 an ounce after
rebounding from an earlier low of $1,988.50, compared with
$2,031/2,046 in New York on Wednesday.
Palladium <XPD=> was $427/435 an ounce, down from
$430.50/438.50 in late New York. Silver <XAG=> was at
$16.59/16.65 an ounce, up from $16.55/16.61.
Precious metals prices at 0911 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 865.60 1.95 +0.23 3.95
Spot Silver 16.61 0.14 +0.85 12.46
Spot Platinum 2000.00 -26.00 -1.28 31.58
Spot Palladium 429.00 -1.00 -0.23 16.58
TOCOM Gold 2944.00 5.00 +0.17 -3.79 26009
TOCOM Platinum 6564.00 -66.00 -1.00 22.94 28400
TOCOM Silver 567.90 -0.50 -0.09 4.97 469
TOCOM Palladium 1480.00 -2.00 -0.13 9.55 1361
Euro/Dollar 1.5515
Dollar/Yen 104.98
(Reporting by Risa Maeda)
