* Gold regroups after sell-off; dollar turns lower
* Market eyes U.S. economic data at 1400 GMT
* Physical demand seen as supporting bullion
By Nick Vinocur
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) Gold rose above $932 per ounce on
Wednesday, recovering some poise after a broad sell-off across
commodities the previous day, with dollar weakness providing
support ahead of a batch of fresh data on the U.S. economy.
Spot gold <XAU=> climbed as high as $932.30 before trading
at $931.60 by 1039 GMT, up from $925.85 quoted late in New York.
On Tuesday, the precious metal fell to $922.60 per ounce,
its lowest since June 24, on what traders described as a broad
sell-off across the commodity complex at the end of the quarter
although most commodities ended the period with gains.
Analysts said gold had also found support from stabilising
physical demand in Asia on Wednesday, with buyers getting used
to higher gold prices and expecting its value to rise further.
"We are seeing some decent physical buying from Asia
whenever gold goes below $930-$935, which is providing some
support," said Walter Wet, an analyst at Standard Bank.
"It's not massive, but it's there," he added.
With the dollar in sharp focus, gold investors eyed U.S.
economic data such as Institute for Supply Management's due
later on Wednesday, and key non-farm payrolls data on Thursday,
for clues on how the currency might behave.
Non-farm payrolls are expected to show that the U.S. economy
shed 363,000 jobs in June after losing 345,000 in May -- a
forecast which would take unemployment to a 26-year high.
Friday is a public holiday in the United States.
BUYERS WADE IN
David Wilson, analyst at Societe Generale, said buyers of
physical gold were slowly wading back into the market, while
flows of scrap gold were showing signs of stabilisation.
"Demand from the jewellery sector seems to have stabilised,
partly based on the expectations that the price is going to pick
up," he said. "The physical buyers are getting used to the
higher price range and looking at any dip as an opportunity."
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> were at $931.90
an ounce, up nearly half a percent from the previous settlement
on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
While physical demand is seen as underpinning the price of
gold at lower levels, investors' appetite has been weakening.
Holdings by the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, the SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, fell again on Tuesday by 5.19
to 1,120.55 tonnes as of June 30. The holdings are down 13.48
tonnes from a record high on June 1. []
Holdings in the trust, which issues securities backed by
physical stocks of gold, have declined in the past few weeks as
a sense of optimism about the global economy sapped investors'
appetite for bullion as a safe-haven asset. <XAUEXT-NYS-TT>.
In other precious metals, spot silver <XAG=> rose to $13.68
per troy ounce against $13.57 in New York, while platinum <XPT=>
gained to $1,177 versus $1,172.50 previously and palladium
<XPD=> climbed to $249.50 from $248.00.
Andrey Kryuchenkov, analyst at VTB Capital, said industrial
metals such as silver, oversold in comparison to gold, could
rise as the macro-economic picture improved, while platinum
holders were paying close attention to U.S. car sales data.
"Platinum and silver look more interesting in the long run,
as their industrial appeal will start to come back online," he
said. "The gold-silver ratio has been out of step, with gold
slightly overbought. Going forward that will start to change."
(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Veronica
Brown)
