* Gold rises further as oil pauses from decline
* Gold shrugs off deadly bombs in India
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, July 28 (Reuters) - Gold extended gains on
Monday, regaining its appeal as a hedge against inflation as
oil prices bounced from a seven-week low, encouraging some
investors to put their money back into bullion.
Physical buying from jewellers also lifted prices but
overall trading was slow. Gold barely reacted to a series of
deadly bombs in India, the world's main consumer, which
suggested investors were taking cues from energy and currency
markets, dealers said.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $929.90/930.90 an ounce from
$927.40/929.40 late in New York on Friday, when it moved in
volatile $16 range. Gold was above last week's two-week low of
$915.80 an ounce.
"We didn't see many large positions, so the market will
keep the narrow range of $927 to $932," said Louis Lok, a
dealer at Bank of China in Hong Kong.
Despite the gains, gold was still below a four-month high
of $987.75 hit on July 15 -- not far from a record high of
$1,030.80 struck in March.
New York gold futures firmed on higher oil, while a weaker
yen pushed up gold contracts in Tokyo precious metals futures.
India's major cities were put on high alert on Sunday, with
fears of more attacks after at least 46 people were killed in
two days of bombings that hit a communally sensitive western
city and a southern hi-tech hub. []
In theory, geopolitical tensions boost gold's safe-haven
appeal in times of uncertainty.
"Gold will probably continue on a slight bounce and hang
around the $925-$930 region for now. We will probably face a
bit of resistance around the $935 region," said Adrian Koh, an
analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"We've got to see how the dollar does tonight though," said
Koh, adding that the gains were also technically driven after
the sharp sell-off to below the $920s level.
Oil <CLc1> added 60 cents to $123.86 a barrel, having
fallen to as low as $122.50 on Friday, its lowest since June 5,
on worries of slowing demand. []
The euro was steady against the dollar at $1.5715 <EUR=>.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,751.50/1,771.50 an ounce
from $1,745.00/1,765.00 late in New York.
Gold futures for August delivery <GCQ8> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $3.2 to $930
an ounce.
The most active Tokyo gold contract for June 2009 delivery
<0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 19 yen per gram
higher to 3,248 yen but was off last week's 25-year high of
3,363 yen.
Spot palladium <XPD=> rose to $384.50/392.50 an ounce from
$380.50/388.50 late in New York. Silver <XAG=> edged up to
$17.43/17.48 an ounce from $17.35/17.43 late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0711 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 929.70 1.00 +0.11 11.65
Spot Silver 17.41 0.04 +0.23 17.87
Spot Platinum 1751.50 5.50 +0.32 15.23
Spot Palladium 384.50 3.50 +0.92 4.48
TOCOM Gold 3248.00 19.00 +0.59 6.14
30125
TOCOM Platinum 6037.00 137.00 +2.32 13.07
17822
TOCOM Silver 609.40 0.00 +0.00 12.64
910
TOCOM Palladium 1367.00 -4.00 -0.29 1.18
1177
Euro/Dollar 1.5710
Dollar/Yen 107.65
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
