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SINGAPORE, May 26 (Reuters) - Gold edged up towards $927 an
ounce on Monday, continuing last week's rally as oil prices
resumed their march upwards and the U.S. dollar steadied at
near a one-month low.
Spot gold <XAU=> stood at $926.25/927.45 an ounce by 0437
GMT, up from $925.20/926.60 in New York late last week, and
looking to more gains after it rose nearly 3 percent on the
week when oil prices rose above $135 a barrel for the first
time on record.
"Oil demand has been far more resilient to higher prices
than expected and prices continue to go higher. Gold is seeing
a catch up rally, pricing further expectation of rising oil,"
Mark Pervan senior commodities analyst at ANZ, said.
Spot gold rose as high as $935.30 last Thursday, its
highest level in a month on the day that oil prices rose above
$135.00.
"Gold could revisit the high $900s if oil maintains these
kinds of levels and the dollar weakens, but the natural limit
is $1,000 and we would struggle to get back through that
level," Pervan added.
Oil rose towards $133 a barrel on Monday, standing at
$132.85 a barrel, up 66 cents, as a supply outage on the
Statfjord oilfield in the North Sea over the weekend added
short-term concerns to longer-term worries that supply will
struggle to keep up with demand over the next few years. []
The weaker U.S. dollar also added to gold's appeal as an
alternative currency, with the greenback steadying at near
one-month lows against a basket of major currencies on Monday
on concerns that the record-high oil prices could further slow
the U.S. economy and add to inflation pressures. []
The dollar index was little changed on the day at 72.004
<.DXY>, up 0.04 percent, and within sight of one-month lows of
71.823 struck last week.
Noncommercial investors in U.S. gold futures turned bullish
last week, hiking their long positions by around 20 percent in
the week to May 20, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission showed on Friday.
Noncommercial investors, often referred to as speculators,
were net long on 182,119 lots of gold on the New York
Mercantile Exchange's COMEX metals division, up from 152,938
lots a week earlier. []
Gold futures for June delivery <GCM8> on the COMEX division
of the New York Mercantile Exchange were up $0.70 to $926.50 an
ounce.
Benchmark April gold <0#JAU:> on the Tokyo Commodity
Exchange was down 3 yen at $3,102 yen per gram.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $2,184.00/2,194.00 an ounce
from $2,156.50/2,176.50 late in New York.
The most active Tokyo platinum futures contract <0#JPL:>
fell 10 yen per gram to 7,073 yen.
Silver <XAG=> was marginally up at $18.21/18.27 an ounce
from $18.18/18.26 an ounce.
Spot palladium <XPD=> was stronger at $453/$458 an ounce.
(Reporting by Maryelle Demongeot and Nick Trevethan; Editing
by Michael Urquhart)
