* SPDR Gold holdings fall 0.3 pct to 1,115.884 tonnes
* U.S. platinum, palladium ETFs so far buy total 170,000 oz
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on
Wednesday with investors seeking the next clue to direction after
a broad sell-off in commodities the previous day when China's
surprise monetary tightening drained the appetite for riskier
assets.
China tightened monetary conditions on Tuesday as the world's
third-largest economy roars ahead, surprising investors with an
increase in banks' required reserves. The move rocked global
financial markets. []
Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.1 percent to $1,128.75 an ounce as of
0254 GMT, compared to New York's notional close of $1,127.95.
It fell more than 2 percent on Tuesday, marking the biggest
one-day percentage loss since Dec. 17.
Technical selling had dragged prices lower after spot bullion
fell below its 50-day moving average at $1,130, analysts said.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> were at
$1,129.80 an ounce, up 0.04 percent. The contract settled Tuesday
down $22 or 1.9 percent at $1,129.40 on the COMEX division of the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
Aggressive selling was pausing as gold bullion slid 2.8
percent from a five-week high of $1,161.50 marked on Monday.
But a further downturn is possible, said Tetsu Emori, a fund
manager at Tokyo-based asset manager Astmax Co, as new money
inflows from fund managers in the past weeks had helped prop up
gold prices.
"The news on China's central bank triggered a wave of
selling. But the market still looks a bit overbought after active
buying by index funds especially at the start of the year," he
said.
Such buying was not necessarily related to gold's
fundamentals and the market was thus vulnerable to a technical
correction.
Emori also said historical data shows that a reversal of a
rally between late December to early January often results in a
6-10 percent correction before bottoming out.
Volatility in commodity prices could stay high in the coming
days as passively managed index funds were set to rebalance their
holdings in line with the new weighting portfolio for 2010 by
such commodity indexes like S&P GSCI <.SPGSCI> and Dow Jones UBS
<.DJUBS>. []
In the currency market, the euro stayed on the defensive
against the dollar <EUR=>, retreating from a four-week high
above $1.45 on Monday. []
The holdings of the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, extended recent
declines. But physical buying by newly listed U.S. platinum and
palladium ETFs rose in the first two trading sessions.
SPDR Gold Trust said its holdings fell 3.657 tonnes or 0.3
percent to 1,115.884 tonnes on Tuesday, the lowest level since
mid-November. []
As of Monday, ETFS Physical Platinum Shares <PPLT> had bought
80,000 ounces of platinum, while the ETFS Physical Palladium
Shares <PALL> held 90,000 ounces of palladium, a ETF Securities
spokeswoman said. []
Spot platinum <XPT=> was at $1,571 an ounce against its
notional New York close of $1,568.50. Spot palladium <XPD=> was
at $423 against $421.50.
On Tuesday, platinum reached $1,624, its highest since August
2008, while palladium hit an 18-month high of $439.
Precious metals prices at 0308 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1128.80 0.85 +0.08 3.02
Spot Silver 18.26 0.02 +0.11 8.50
Spot Platinum 1571.50 3.00 +0.19 7.12
Spot Palladium 423.00 1.50 +0.36 4.32
TOCOM Gold 3316.00 -122.00 -3.55 1.75 61891
TOCOM Platinum 4598.00 -149.00 -3.14 4.95 23750
TOCOM Silver 53.90 -2.10 -3.75 4.26 485
TOCOM Palladium 1244.00 -47.00 -3.64 6.78 467
Euro/Dollar 1.4473
Dollar/Yen 91.00
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Watson)
