* Near-term support for gold eyed at Dec low near $1,070
* Stocks, speculative longs eyed for shift in sentiment
* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust steady
By Chikako Mogi
TOKYO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Gold remained under pressure on
Friday as U.S. President Barack Obama's plans to limit financial
risk taking raised concerns about diminishing capital flows from
banks, which have provided liquidity for gold and commodities
investors.
Stock markets across Asia fell around 2 percent on Friday,
after U.S. shares suffered their worst one-day percentage drop
since October the previous day, while commodities continued their
broad slide.
"Obama's proposal to restrict banks' risk taking is the
latest factor adding to recent market concerns about liquidity
leaving the market, following worries about China's tightening
policy which emerged this month," said Shuji Sugata, a manager at
Mitsubishi Corp Futures Ltd.
While falling prices could offer some good bargains,
investors will likely wait to see how long the global stock
market plunge continues and how much in speculative long
positions is cleared by current selling before returning to
buying gold and other precious metals in full force, he said.
"The latest selling is most likely a temporary correction,
but there is still too much uncertainty to say when and where the
market drop will stop," he said, adding that for gold, the
near-term support target was December's low around $1,070.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,094.80 per ounce as of 0255 GMT,
little changed from New York's notional close of $1,094.20, but
above a three-week low of $1,088.30 hit on Thursday.
At current levels, spot gold would have fallen about 3
percent on the week, the largest weekly drop in six weeks.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> fell 0.8
percent to $1,094.80 per ounce, compared to $1,103.20 on the
COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures also
fell to a three-week low on Thursday.
Gold prices fell to their lowest level this year on Thursday
when Obama's plans dampened investor sentiment across the board.
Reflecting investor caution, inflows into the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, halted,
with its holdings remaining unchanged at 1,111.922 tonnes as of
Jan. 21 from the previous business day. []
The dollar eased against a basket of major currencies on
Friday, after falling sharply on Obama's plan the day before.
[]
Spot palladium <XPD=> was well off a 19-month high of $471.75
per ounce hit on Thursday, while spot platinum <XPT=> also moved
away from a 17-month high hit on Wednesday.
Precious metals prices at 0301 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1095.85 1.65 +0.15 0.01
Spot Silver 17.40 0.05 +0.29 3.39
Spot Platinum 1580.50 -12.50 -0.78 7.74
Spot Palladium 443.75 -5.25 -1.17 9.43
TOCOM Gold 3180.00 -113.00 -3.43 -2.42 72749
TOCOM Platinum 4574.00 -200.00 -4.19 4.41 22101
TOCOM Silver 50.80 -2.80 -5.22 -1.74 618
TOCOM Palladium 1280.00 -103.00 -7.45 9.87 601
Euro/Dollar 1.4130
Dollar/Yen 89.98
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Joseph Radford)
