(Updates prices, adds oil hitting record)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 15 (Reuters) - Gold extended gains on
Tuesday as record oil prices and a weak U.S. dollar encouraged
some investors to put their money back into the precious metal.
But gains could be limited as gold has yet to retest the
key resistance mark of $950 an ounce after falling from a
record high of $1,030.80 an ounce hit on March 17. Platinum
bounced, while silver and palladium extended losses.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $926.90/927.70 an ounce from
$925.30/926.10 late in New York. It hit an intraday low of
$914.10 on Monday before rebounding to hit a high of $931.10 as
U.S. oil futures settled around $111 a barrel.
"I think the market has lost direction. Players need to
find something to break the narrow range," said Louis Lok, a
dealer at Bank of China in Hong Kong.
Early buying pushed up gold prices to an intraday high of
$928.90 but there was a lack of follow through, said Lok, who
pegged resistance at $940 an ounce.
U.S. oil futures <CLc1> surged to a lifetime high of
$112.48 per barrel on Tuesday on supply disruptions and a weak
dollar, after London Brent crude futures <LCOc1> also surged to
a record. []
High oil prices elevate gold's appeal as a hedge against
inflation.
The euro was steady at $1.5825 <EUR=>, recovering from
Monday's low of $1.5658 and moving back towards the record high
of $1.5915 hit on electronic trading platform EBS last
Thursday.
"Market participants are still very much on the long side.
We need to see fresh buying from the funds to bid gold up to
above $940," said William Kwan, a dealer at Phillip Futures in
Singapore.
"I am still expecting the upside at $935 and the downside
at $915," said Kwan, referring to Tuesday's trading range.
Investors awaited U.S. data and first-quarter results from
financial institutions this week for clues on the state of the
economy and the credit markets.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,977/1,987 an ounce from
$1,958/1,968 late in New York. It tumbled to its lowest level
in nearly two weeks at $1,940 on Monday to track weaker gold
and a sell-off in Tokyo futures.
The most active Tokyo platinum futures <0#JPL:> ended the
morning session 130 yen per gram higher at 6,290 yen in a
technical rebound, having fallen by its limit on Monday.
Gold futures for June delivery <GCM8> on the COMEX division
of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $2.4 an ounce to
$931.1 an ounce.
Silver <XAG=> edged down to $17.75/17.80 an ounce from
$17.78/17.83 an ounce. Spot palladium <XPD=> fell to $457/462
an ounce from $459/463 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0301 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 926.80 2.70 +0.29 11.30
Spot Silver 17.75 0.05 +0.28 20.18
Spot Platinum 1977.00 19.00 +0.97 30.07
Spot Palladium 457.00 -2.00 -0.44 24.18
TOCOM Gold 3040.00 35.00 +1.16 -0.65
22237
TOCOM Platinum 6290.00 130.00 +2.11 17.81
13591
TOCOM Silver 582.30 15.70 +2.77 7.63
385
TOCOM Palladium 1523.00 9.00 +0.59 12.73
443
Euro/Dollar 1.5820
Dollar/Yen 101.34
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
