* Gold seen rangebound between $1,370-$1,400 through year-end
* Gold to fall towards $1,350.27 - technicals [
]* Coming up: ECB President Trichet speaks; 1830 GMT (Update prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Dec 13(Reuters) - Spot gold edged higher on Monday as healthy physical demand helped buoy prices, while China's move to further tighten its monetary policy and upbeat U.S. economic data weighed on sentiment.
China raised cash reserve requirements for banks on Friday, as the country's inflation soared to a 28-month high in November and put pressure on the government to step up efforts to curb inflation. [
] [ ] [ ]"There's the possibility that China would tighten its monetary policy further," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Philip Futures.
"It could affect demand for commodities, and gold could be caught in a sell-off."
The dollar edged higher against a basket of currencies, supported by higher Treasury yields after improving U.S. data late last week.
A rise in U.S. consumer confidence to its highest in six months and a much bigger-than-expected contraction in the country's trade deficit pointed to a firmer economic recovery on Friday. [
]Spot gold gained by 0.3 percent to $1,387.25 an ounce by 0616 GMT, after falling by 2.2 percent last week.
U.S. gold futures edged up 0.2 percent to $1,388.2 an ounce.
Spot gold is biased to fall even though it is rangebound between $1,371 to $1,395 per ounce, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst.
For a 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20101312081916.jpg
Robust physical demand in the region helped support prices, dealers said.
"The physical market is very good. Bullion traders and some jewellers are buying, as well as some individual customers who prefer to sell currency and buy gold," said Peter Fung, head of dealing department at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.
India and China have both shown strong appetite, due to seasonal rise in demand, he added.
Investors are eyeing a Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday to see whether the proposed $600 billion stimulus plan would be carried out, or if further stimulus would be considered to jump-start the economy. [
]"If the Fed hints further QE (quantitative easing), it would provide some bullish support to gold," said Ong of Philip Futures.
"On the longer term, some investors could be buying on dips, which also provides support to prices."
Strength in the industrial metals encouraged platinum group metals.
Spot platinum rose 1.3 percent to $1,686.74 an ounce, and palladium gained 1.4 percent to $738.22.
Prices of platinum have plenty of scope to build on the 15 percent rise already seen this year, based on their historic relationship with silver. [
]Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit an all-time high of $9,138.5 a tonne, lifted by strong Chinese macroeconomic and output data over the weekend and a positive technical lead from Shanghai copper.
Precious metals prices at 0616 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pctchg Turnover Spot Gold 1387.25 4.10 +0.30 26.61 Spot Silver 28.86 0.31 +1.09 71.48 Spot Platinum 1686.74 21.64 +1.30 14.98 Spot Palladium 738.72 10.44 +1.43 82.18 TOCOM Gold 3763.00 10.00 +0.27 15.46 44759 TOCOM Platinum 4619.00 44.00 +0.96 5.43 11038 TOCOM Silver 78.50 0.20 +0.26 51.84 1455 TOCOM Palladium 2019.00 -6.00 -0.30 73.30 637 Euro/Dollar 1.3185 Dollar/Yen 84.13
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane)
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