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TOKYO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Gold was steady above $950 an ounce
on Monday, pausing after touching a one-week high near $960 in
the previous session, with investors keeping an eye on the
currency market for clues on bullion's direction.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Gold <XAU=> was at $951.75 an ounce at 0008 GMT, down 0.1
percent from the notional New York close of $952.65.
* U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> edged down
to $953.90 per ounce. The contract settled up $13, or 1.4
percent, at $954.70 on Friday on the COMEX division of the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
* Bullion rose 0.8 percent last week and hit a one-week high
of $957.65 on Friday. The dollar's recent fall against the euro
boosted the metal's appeal as a hedge against the falling U.S.
currency.
* A rally in U.S. stocks amid optimistic U.S. existing home
sales data on Friday helped prompt investors to buy riskier
assets, including commodities.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said holdings rose 0.92 tonnes to 1,066.41
tonnes on Friday. The holdings had been steady at 1,065.49 tonnes
since Aug. 11. []
* Spot platinum <XPT=> was steady at $1,252 per ounce after
South Africa's miners' union said on Sunday it had suspended an
indefinite strike set to start on Monday at the world's No.2
platinum producer, Impala Platinum. []
* Non-commercial net long positions in New York gold futures
contracts fell to 177,530 lots in the week ended on Aug. 18, down
6.6 percent from 190,086 lots, a weekly report by the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission showed. []
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. crude oil <CLc1> steadied around $74 a barrel on
Monday, keeping last week's gains of nearly 10 percent, amid
rising optimism that the United States was heading towards an
economic recovery, which would revive energy demand. []
* The euro was little changed at $1.4338. On Friday, the
dollar and the yen fell after a strong U.S. housing sales report
and upbeat comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
reduced the safe-haven appeal of the U.S. and Japanese
currencies. []
* U.S. stocks ended the week at 2009 highs on Friday after
the rise in home sales and comments from Bernanke reassured
investors about the prospects for an economic recovery. []
* Japan's Nikkei share average <> was up 2.5 percent.
DATA, EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Monday: <ECON>
- Euro zone industrial orders (0900 GMT)
- Chicago Fed national activity index for July (1230 GMT)
- Chicago Fed July midwest manufacturing index (1600 GMT)
RELATED NEWS
>Gold hits one-week high, nears $960 on weak dollar []
>Commds mostly up as housing data bolsters hopes []
>US CFTC moves to rein in small ETF investors-WSJ[]
>S.Africa union suspends strike at platinum miner []
PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0013 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30 RSI
Spot gold $951.75 -$0.90 -0.09% +6.10% $860.10 57
Spot silver $14.18 $0.03 +0.21% +18.36% $11.29 51
Spot plat $1252.00 $1.00 +0.08% -0.12% $1228.97 58
COMEX gold $952.80 -$0.40 -0.04% +1.33% $947.25 57
TOCOM gold 2,907 33 +1.15% +2.36% 2,908 52
TOCOM plat 3,817 65 +1.73% +2.83% 3,747 54
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.434 $0.000 -0.01% +0.15%
Dlr/yen 94.61 0.26 +0.28% +0.25%
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)
