* Gold to rise to $1,403/oz -technicals[]
* Coming Up: U.S. non-farm payrolls Nov; 1330 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Gold gained on Friday to hold
near its strongest in three weeks as bargain hunting helped
the metal defy a rebound in the euro, waning Europe debt
concerns and upbeat U.S. data.
The European Central Bank resisted pressure on Thursday to
commit to a major bond-buying programme to contain the euro
zone debt crisis, but traders said the ECB had been quietly
buying bonds anyway. []
Spot gold rose $6 an ounce to $1,390.75 by 0651
GMT. It had jumped to its highest since Nov 12 around $1,398
on Thursday before falling back. Bullion was below a lifetime
high around $1,424 struck in early November.
Gold is on track for a weekly gain of more than 2 percent,
highest weekly rise in a month.
"We can say there are some bargain hunters at the lower
end. There's not too much liquidity in the market and a little
bit of buying moves up gold," said Ronald Leung, director of
Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
"I don't see many jewellery makers around these days. The
price is too high. It's towards the year-end and most of the
orders have already been filled," said Leung, adding that gold
could find resistance around $1,400.
U.S. gold futures for February added $2.2 to
$1,391.5 an ounce.
Silver tracked gold higher, while palladium
slipped after rallying to its highest since early 2001 on
Thursday, but firmer equities and physical buying helped
cushion the fall. Platinum edged down.
Metals consultancy GFMS forecasts silver prices to average
around $30 an ounce in 2011, peaking at $35, while gold would
peak at around $1,600 to $1,650 an ounce, and average $1,400.
It expects global platinum market to see a surplus of about 25
tonnes in 2010, which will continue to pressure prices.
[]
"Demand for silver from the industrial sector is slowing
down, but there's a steady interest in palladium," said a
dealer in Tokyo. "Platinum price is just too high. There's no
interest."
Platinum and palladium often track equities because of
their industrial demand, mostly in auto catalysts
The euro's rebound from a 2-1/2-month low stalled on
Friday, though it retained most gains made after talk of
European Central Bank buying of euro zone periphery debt
helped knocked down those yields.
Investors awaited the release of U.S. payrolls data later
in the day, with surprisingly strong U.S. housing numbers
adding to budding optimism on the U.S. economy and sending
equities markets higher.
Spot gold will rise to a projected target at $1,403
per ounce as the current upward wave "c" has not completed. A
Fibonacci projection points to $1,403, the 100 percent level,
which may exert a strong resistance to prevent a further
rebound, according to Wang Tao, who is a Reuters market
analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
For a 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20100312093140.jpg
In other markets, Japan's Nikkei share average
held onto recent gains on Friday after a stream of positive
U.S. retail and housing data raised hopes for a swift recovery
in the world's biggest economy, while oil was steady near
25-month highs.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings rose to 1,298.447
tonnes by Dec 2 from 1,293.891 tonnes on Dec 1. The holdings
hit a record at 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29.
The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund,
Shares Silver Trust , said its holdings slipped to
10,778.68 tonnes by Dec 2 from 10,782.69 tonnes on Dec 1. The
holdings jumped to an all-time high of 10,893.68 tonnes on
Nov 23. []
Precious metals prices at 0651 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1390.75 6.00 +0.43 26.93
Spot Silver 28.70 0.19 +0.67 70.53
Spot Platinum 1706.40 -2.09 -0.12 16.32
Spot Palladium 753.50 -5.72 -0.75 85.82
TOCOM Gold 3748.00 -25.00 -0.66 15.00 45657
TOCOM Platinum 4649.00 -6.00 -0.13 6.12 16374
TOCOM Silver 77.40 -0.30 -0.39 49.71 1559
TOCOM Palladium 2049.00 31.00 +1.54 75.88 1373
Euro/Dollar 1.3217
Dollar/Yen 83.58
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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