* Gold steadies after previous day's 1 pct fall, dollar
helps
* SPDR holdings edge down 0.31 tonnes from record high
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, March 24 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Tuesday as a
dip in the U.S. dollar led investors to buy back the precious
metal, which fell more than 1 percent the previous day on a
stock market rally.
The Obama administration on Monday offered a raft of
incentives for private investors to rid banks of up to $1
trillion in toxic assets, raising hopes for greater stability
in the financial system, but hitting gold's safe-haven status.
[]
Japan's Nikkei average briefly climbed nearly 3 percent to
a more than two-month high on Tuesday, after a 7 percent
increase in U.S. stocks on Monday, buoyed by bank shares. []
Analysts said that fears of inflation fanned by Federal
Reserve plans to buy long-dated U.S. Treasuries, announced last
week, still linger even if they have temporarily eased a
little.
"Traders are probably focusing more on how the U.S.
Treasury is going to clear up the toxic debts in the financial
system," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Philip Futures.
"However, on a longer-term view, inflation concerns will
remain a main driver for gold and commodities," Koh said.
Gold <XAU=> was at $941.00 per ounce at 0310 GMT, up 0.4
percent from New York's notional close of $937.15 on Monday,
when it fell more than 1 percent as investors moved away from
safe-haven investments.
The temporary dip in interest in gold was also evident in
the holdings of gold-backed exchange traded funds. The world's
largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its
holdings nudged down about a third of a tonne to 1,114.29
tonnes on March 23 from their record-high 1,114.60 tonnes.
[]
For details on gold holdings of the ETF listed in New York
and co-listed on other exchanges, click on:
http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
For a graphic, click on:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/MKTS_SPDRGLD240309.jpg
It was the third time the SPDR's holdings have pulled back
this year, but each time it has slipped a mere 0.3 tonnes or
so, and the overall amount is still up more than 330 tonnes so
far in 2009.
Investors are likely to keep watching U.S. government steps
aimed at pulling the economy out of a painful recession.
"I think we'll see (gold) range bound for a little while
until we see whether the economy is really improving," Ronald
Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold dealers in Hong Kong, said.
The dollar and the yen fell on Tuesday as regional stocks
extended gains on optimism about the U.S. programme. []
Gold is often viewed as an alternative to holding the
dollar, and often rises when the U.S. dollar falls. A weaker
dollar also boosts gold for investors holding other currencies.
Prices as of 0308 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 941.80 4.65 +0.50 7.00
Spot Silver 13.61 -0.02 -0.15 20.23
Spot Platinum 1117.50 -3.50 -0.31 19.90
Spot Palladium 210.50 3.00 +1.45 14.09
TOCOM Gold 2978.00 19.00 +0.64 15.74
23036
TOCOM Platinum 3530.00 95.00 +2.77 33.11
8607
TOCOM Silver 426.40 1.90 +0.45 33.54
348
TOCOM Palladium 675.00 33.00 +5.14 22.73
805
Euro/Dollar 1.3656
Dollar/Yen 97.72
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Hugh
Lawson)
