* Irish government to map out 4-year plan
* Book-squaring seen before U.S. holiday
* Coming up: U.S. initial claims, durable goods; 1330 GMT
By Rujun Shen and Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on Wednesday
but
showed a muted reaction to the heightened tensions between the
two Koreas, with investors still focused on the debt crisis in
Europe, which has put pressure on the euro.
A U.S. aircraft carrier headed toward the Korean peninsula
on Wednesday, a day after North Korea launched dozens of
artillery shells on a South Korean island in one of the
heaviest attacks on its neighbour since war ended in 1953.
[]
Gold added $1.31 an ounce to $1,377.51 an ounce by
0651 GMT, having risen to $1,382 on Tuesday, its highest since
Nov. 12, but was still well below a lifetime high around
$1,424.1 struck in early November.
U.S. gold futures were barely moved at $1,377 an
ounce.
"I am not sure if the market is completely convinced that
the tension would lead to something more," said Darren
Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia in Sydney.
"I think it's being pushed and pulled by the euro as well
at
the moment."
The euro edged up from a two-month low on Wednesday,
finding
support after a massive sell-off sparked by the euro zone debt
crisis and heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
In Ireland, the deeply unpopular government said it will
explain on Wednesday how it plans to save 15 billion euros over
the next four years, inflicting more pain on voters to prove
that it can tackle the country's debt. []
Bullion dealers in Singapore noted selling of gold bars and
scraps from consumers in Indonesia and Thailand, but China saw
buying on dips related to the tension in Korea.
"It's mainly safe-haven buying in gold after North Korea
and South Korea exchanged fire yesterday, in addition to the
buy-on-dip type," said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO
Futures.
"Gold is likely to revisit its record high at the end of
this year or next year, thanks to strong demand, particularly
from this region."
Silver was steady, platinum and palladium
firmed ahead of the release of economic data in the
United States.
The U.S. is scheduled to release a batch of data later in
the day, including the weekly initial jobless claims, October
durable goods order and new home sales, just ahead of the
Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
The U.S. economy grew faster than previously estimated in
the third quarter, but a slump in sales of previously owned
homes in October indicated the recovery remains too anemic to
reduce high unemployment. []
Holdings in the iShares Silver Trust , the world's
largest physically-backed exchange-traded fund, rose to record
highs for three consecutive sessions, signalling strong
investment demand in the metal, seen as an alternate investment
from gold. []
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust remained unchanged
at
1,285.084 tonnes.
Precious metals prices at 0651 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1377.51 1.31 +0.10 25.72
Spot Silver 27.60 0.12 +0.44 63.99
Spot Platinum 1654.60 7.36 +0.45 12.79
Spot Palladium 696.28 9.81 +1.43 71.71
TOCOM Gold 3688.00 27.00 +0.74 13.16 57646
TOCOM Platinum 4478.00 -45.00 -0.99 2.21 10982
TOCOM Silver 73.90 -0.50 -0.67 42.94 1817
TOCOM Palladium 1871.00 -23.00 -1.21 60.60 1094
Euro/Dollar 1.3401
Dollar/Yen 83.12
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Manash Goswami)
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