* Gold poised to rise about 7 pct in first half of year
* Holdings by SPDR Gold <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> unchanged
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, June 30 (Reuters) - Gold clawed back above $941 an
ounce on Tuesday, helped by a retreat in the dollar as stock
markets extended gains at the end of the first half of the year.
A weaker dollar is supportive for bullion as investors view
gold as insurance against the falling value of their
dollar-denominated portfolios.
"In the past few days equities markets were stable and the
U.S. Dow recovered again yesterday. That is related to the
half-year ending," said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at
Heraeus Ltd in Hong Kong.
"Gains in equities put pressure on the dollar, which as a
result is a plus for gold," he said.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $941.20 per ounce at 0335 GMT, up 0.4
percent from New York's notional close of $937.05.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> edged higher to
$941.90 per ounce, up 0.1 percent from the previous settlement on
the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold was on track to lose almost 4 percent this month, but
was poised to rise about 7 percent for the first half of the year
as a fall in U.S. Treasuries prices has increased the appeal of
the precious metal.
Spot gold was still off Monday's high, showing that momentum
has been tamed after last week's rally, which had pushed the
price of gold to a two-week high of $948.20.
Whether the dollar would remain weak into the second half was
still unclear, and investors were looking for initial trading
cues from the monthly U.S. jobs report due on Thursday.
Investors also refrained from building large positions due to
a holiday-shortened week in North America. U.S. markets will be
closed for Independence Day on Friday, while Canadian markets are
shut on Wednesday for Canada Day.
"Gold cleared above $941 as the dollar weakened versus the
euro in Tokyo, but has since been moving sideways," said Kaname
Gokon, deputy general manager at Okato Shoji Co's research
section.
"It seems to be consolidating in a range of between $935 and
$948 for now," he said.
Reflecting gold's limited upside potential curbing investor
appetite, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings remained at 1,125.74
tonnes as of June 29, unchanged since June 25.
The holdings were down 0.7 percent from a record high marked
in early June. []
Precious metals prices at 0340 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 941.35 4.30 +0.46 6.95
Spot Silver 13.97 0.13 +0.94 23.41
Spot Platinum 1190.50 8.50 +0.72 27.74
Spot Palladium 248.00 1.00 +0.40 34.42
TOCOM Gold 2915.00 35.00 +1.22 13.29 21198
TOCOM Platinum 3693.00 40.00 +1.09 39.25 7637
TOCOM Silver 430.30 2.60 +0.61 34.76 200
TOCOM Palladium 783.00 29.00 +3.85 42.36 356
Euro/Dollar 1.4108
Dollar/Yen 95.93
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
