* Rise in SPDR Gold holdings shows gold's safe haven appeal
* Central bank interest continues to support gold
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Gold was mostly steady around $1,180
per ounce on Tuesday taking a break from a rally to record highs
late last week, although the precious metal's appeal as a safe
haven is expected to continue to attract buying.
The yen fell against the dollar on Tuesday on news that the
Bank of Japan would hold an extra policy meeting at 2 p.m. (0500
GMT) [], but the news only had a moderate impact on
the gold market.
The precious metal inched down as low as $1,175.50 after the
news, but soon regained ground.
"The market is awaiting further developments on currency
markets on this news," a Japanese analyst said.
The precious metal fell as much as 5 percent on Friday on
news that Dubai planned to delay repayments on billions of
dollars in debt, reviving fears of another global credit crisis,
and prompting investors to sell gold to raise cash to cover
losses.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,178.45 per ounce as of 0302 GMT,
down a touch from New York's notional close of $1,179.10.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> were at
$1,180.0 per ounce on the COMEX division of NYMEX, down 0.2
percent.
Fears about possible repercussions from the Dubai debt
situation appear to have receded for now, traders said.
Kazuhiko Saito, a chief analyst at Fujitomi Co Ltd in Tokyo,
said gold's strength as a classic safe-haven investment was
demonstrated in a rise in holdings in exchange-traded funds.
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD> said its holdings stood at 1,129.994
tonnes as of Nov. 30, up 2.134 tonnes or 0.2 percent from the
previous business day. []
"The fact that gold ETF is up is a positive factor for gold
... as it demonstrates that investors are still drawn to the
precious metal as a safe haven," he said.
Saito said gold's long-term uptrend remained intact,
particularly as central banks continued to show an interest in
increasing their holdings of the precious metal.
The International Monetary Fund said on Nov. 25 it had sold
10 tons of gold to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in one of the
latest developments, while media reports said India was open to
more buying of the precious metal. []
A senior Chinese official said in remarks published on Monday
that Dubai's debt crisis could be China's opportunity to buy gold
and oil assets. []
The China Youth Daily quoted Ji Xiaonan as saying: "We
suggested that China's gold reserves should reach 6,000 tonnes in
the next 3-5 years and perhaps 10,000 tonnes in 8-10 years."
Ji chairs the supervisory board for big state-owned companies
under the State Council's state assets commission.
"I think that comment by China yesterday is a bit
unrealistic, but it could prove to be an incentive to boost gold
at some point," Saito said.
Noncommercial net long U.S. gold futures positions rose 11.3
percent to 262,331 lots in the week to Nov. 24 from 235,697 lots,
a weekly report by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
showed. []
The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the
iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its silver holdings rose 152.77
tonnes or 1.7 percent from the previous business day to a record
9,404.79 tonnes as of Nov. 30. []
PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0250 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1178.50 -0.60 -0.05 33.90
Spot Silver 18.45 0.00 +0.00 62.99
Spot Platinum 1449.00 -3.00 -0.21 55.47
Spot Palladium 366.00 2.50 +0.69 98.37
TOCOM Gold 3313.00 52.00 +1.59 28.76 50542
TOCOM Platinum 4076.00 57.00 +1.42 53.70 7249
TOCOM Silver 519.00 12.90 +2.55 62.54 230
TOCOM Palladium 1026.00 -1.00 -0.10 86.55 147
Euro/Dollar 1.5009
Dollar/Yen 87.09
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Michael Watson)
((miho.yoshikawa@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3 6441 1854; Reuters
Messaging: miho.yoshikawa.reuters.com@reuter s.net))
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