* Wariness of long futures caps, physical demand underpins
* Spot gold seen in $980-$1,010/oz range in near term
* SPDR Gold holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> up, iShares Silver slips
By Chikako Mogi
TOKYO, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Gold stayed above $1,000 an ounce on
Monday as the dollar remained pressured after last week's jobs
data pushed the currency down broadly on concerns the U.S.
economic recovery may not be as robust as previously thought.
Traders remained wary of a sudden liquidation of speculative
long positions in U.S. gold futures even after such positions
eased slightly from record highs in the week ended Sept. 29,
putting a cap on prices.
At the same time, physical demand emerged at the market's
lows last week to underpin prices.
The market appeared more resilient than in March 2008 when it
failed to sustain gains after scaling record highs, taking nearly
a year to retest the $1,000 level, traders said. But an attempt
at an all-time high this time was likely to take a while.
"Long futures positions likely increased over the past week,
showing how persistent those longs are. Wariness about them is
capping prices, but it doesn't seem like selling momentum is
building either," said Yuichi Ikemizu, Tokyo branch manager for
Standard Bank.
"Selling pressure isn't as strong as last year, with physical
demand emerging when prices fell towards $980 last week to
underpin the market. At the same time, nobody is chasing up the
market," he said, adding that he expected prices to stay in a
range between $980 and $1,010 for a while.
Spot gold <XAU=> had inched up 0.2 percent to $1,003.70 an
ounce as of 0550 GMT, after posting a weekly gain of 1 percent
last week.
The precious metal reclaimed the $1,000-an-ounce level after
a choppy session on Friday when the greenback fell in response to
U.S. employers cutting more jobs than expected in September,
sending the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent.
[]
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> were barely
changed at $1,004.9 per ounce, compared with $1,004.3 an ounce on
the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The
December contract had hit a low for the day of $987 an ounce on
Friday.
Non-commercial net long positions in gold futures on the
COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange eased to
231,386 lots for the week ended Sept. 29 from an all-time high of
236,749 lots the week before, figures from the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission showed. []
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,096.548
tonnes as of Oct. 4, up 0.1 percent or 1.221 tonnes from the
previous business day. <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> []
The dollar remained under pressure on Monday after falling
against most major currencies on Friday. []
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised
nations said at a meeting in Istanbul at the weekend that too
much volatility in the foreign exchange market could hurt the
global economy and financial system. []
While G7 officials had a chance to address concern that a
further dollar slide could hurt many countries' exports, they
merely recycled verbatim the language on exchange rates that
appeared in its statement six months ago. The failure to break
new ground on currency rates leaves the door open to more dollar
weakness in coming months as the U.S. economy struggles with its
trade and budget deficits. []
"The G7 statement didn't move the currency market, so the
impact on gold was virtually nil," Standard Bank's Ikemizu said.
The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the
iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its bullion holdings nudged down
3.53 tonnes, or 0.04 percent, from the previous day to 8,594.22
tonnes on Friday, the lowest level since late May. []
Traders said investor appetite for silver was hurt by
copper's fall to two-month lows on Friday when the weak U.S. jobs
data eroded confidence in demand prospects. The two precious
metals move similarly and closely on the outlook for industrial
demand.
PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0547 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1003.65 2.35 +0.23 14.03
Spot Silver 16.23 0.11 +0.68 43.37
Spot Platinum 1276.50 -1.50 -0.12 36.96
Spot Palladium 294.00 0.00 +0.00 59.35
TOCOM Gold 2910.00 20.00 +0.69 13.10 31680
TOCOM Platinum 3699.00 5.00 +0.14 39.48 8950
TOCOM Silver 468.60 -0.20 -0.04 46.76 387
TOCOM Palladium 849.00 11.00 +1.31 54.36 197
Euro/Dollar 1.4629
Dollar/Yen 89.82
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 Miho Yoshikawa, Editing by Chris
Gallagher)
