* Gold firms but off intraday highs, platinum tumbles
* Eyes on oil, Hurricane Gustav
(Recasts, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Gold bounced on Monday on
speculative buying driven by higher oil ahead of Hurricane
Gustav but a firm dollar capped gains, while platinum fell more
than 3 percent on concerns about falling demand for
autocatalysts.
Poor car sales and a slowing U.S. economy weighed on
platinum, which has tumbled nearly 40 percent since hitting a
lifetime high of $2,290 an ounce, in March. Sister metal
palladium also dropped, while silver tracked gold higher.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $833.70/834.70 an ounce from
$830.35/832.3 an ounce late in New York on Friday, when it
slipped more than $1 on profit taking ahead of Monday's U.S.
Labor Day holiday.
"There's some resistance on the top side. I think it's
mostly related to strong U.S. dollar. The market is still
consolidating right now around $800 to $850," said Dick Poon,
manager of precious metals at Heraeus Ltd in Hong Kong.
Spot platinum <XPT=> fell as low as $1,418.50 an ounce,
down from $1,474.50/1,494.50 in New York, with tehnical selling
and weakness in Japanese futures also dragging down the price
from an intraday high of $1,477.
"I think the demand is slow right now. There are still
worries about the global economy, that's why they don't want to
buy too much for the being," said Poon.
The bulk of the world's platinum is used by automakers in
autocatalyst systems that scrub exhaust fumes of dangerous and
environmentally damaging chemicals.
A sudden slowdown in car sales in China and India is
threatening to shrink the global auto market this year,
spelling tougher times for an industry leaning on the two most
populous countries to pick up the slack in the West.
[]
Looking ahead, movements in oil and currencies will set the
direction of precious metals, with investors also waiting for
the release of U.S. economic indicators, including Friday's
non-farm payrolls.
Oil <CLc1> rose more than $1 after energy firms in the U.S.
Gulf shut down nearly all offshore oil output and a host of
flood-prone coastal refineries ahead of Hurricane Gustav, the
biggest threat since 2005's devastating Katrina. []
The dollar approached an eight-month high against a
trade-weighted basket of currencies <.DXY>.
"I guess people will closely watch oil prices because
Gustav may be worse than Katrina. They say Gustav is Katrina's
boyfriend," said a physical dealer in Singapore.
Purchases from jewellers in Indonesia spurred trading in
the physical sector ahead of the Muslim Eid al Fitr holidays in
October, while a political crisis in Thailand had yet to
trigger safe-haven buying.
A small bomb exploded in a central Bangkok police booth on
Monday as a stand-off between the Thai Prime Minister and
protesters occupying his office entered its seventh day with no
sign of either side backing down. []
Thailand is Asia's fourth-largest gold investor. Premiums
for gold bars were steady at $1.50 to $1.80 an ounce to the
spot London prices <GOLD/ASIA1>.
The benchmark platinum contract on the Tokyo Commodity
Exchange, August 2009 <JPLc6>, fell 132 yen per gram to 4,943
yen. New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $4.0 an ounce to
$839.20.
Spot palladium <XPD=> eased to $300.50/308.50 an ounce from
$303.00/341.00 an ounce. Silver <XAG=> firmed to $13.74/13.79
an ounce from $13.58/13.68 an ounce late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0750 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 833.30 3.50 +0.42 0.07
Spot Silver 13.72 0.14 +1.03 -7.11
Spot Platinum 1437.00 -39.50 -2.68 -5.46
Spot Palladium 301.00 -1.50 -0.50 -18.21
TOCOM Gold 2910.00 -34.00 -1.15 -4.90
32728
TOCOM Platinum 4939.00 -136.00 -2.68 -7.49
24919
TOCOM Silver 479.10 -6.80 -1.40 -11.44
783
TOCOM Palladium 1070.00 15.00 +1.42 -20.80
1118
Euro/Dollar 1.4650
Dollar/Yen 107.87
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
