* Dollar retreats, oil stays near multi-year highs
* Fed policy tightening expected to lag other central banks
* iShares silver ETF holdings hit record
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a record on Monday
as expectations the Federal Reserve will lag other central banks
in tightening monetary policy hit the dollar, though it later
eased along with oil on signs of a possible Libyan peace deal.
Spot gold <XAU=> rose as high as $1,476.21 an ounce and was
bid at $1,467.40 an ounce at 1323 GMT, against $1,472.70 late in
New York on Friday. Silver <XAG=> hit its highest since early
1980 at $41.93 and was later at $41.13 an ounce against $40.85.
Investor money has flowed into to commodities in general and
precious metals in particular this month as investors worry
about the potential for rising inflation in developing markets
and changes to monetary policy in the United States.
"Gold investor interest is likely driven by ongoing concerns
about inflationary pressures, both in emerging and developed
economies, sovereign debt levels and economic uncertainty,
notably in the light of current high oil prices," said BNP
Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay.
"Global monetary policy -- not only the U.S. -- is one of
the key themes for gold in 2011," she added.
A weaker dollar is benefiting gold as it makes commodities
priced in dollars cheaper for other currency holders. The dollar
eased against a basket of currencies, reaching a session low
soon after news of another earthquake in Japan. []
The U.S. economy is still not strong enough for the Fed to
start reversing its extremely accommodative monetary policy, Fed
official Janet Yellen said on Saturday. []
"Comments from Fed members, both voting and non-voting, in
recent weeks and over the weekend have only served to highlight
the lack of agreement on the direction of monetary policy," said
UBS analyst Edel Tully in a note.
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Graphic showing the gold:silver ratio:
http://r.reuters.com/jyx88r
Graphic showing gold prices adjusted for inflation:
http://r.reuters.com/ren88r
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FURTHER QUANTITATIGE EASING
"The gold community is granting a greater possibility to
further quantitative easing post-June, and the lack of synergy
among Fed officials only adds weight to these expectations," she
added."
Concerns remain over further political problems in the
United States after a potentially damaging government shutdown
was threatened late last week.
Oil prices, meanwhile, pulled back on Monday after the
African Union said Muammar Gaddafi had accepted a roadmap to end
the civil war in Libya, though they remain near multi-year
highs. [] []
Elsewhere, U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCv1> eased
$5.60 an ounce to $1,468.50. Among other precious metals,
platinum <XPT=> was at $1,798.24 an ounce against $1,803.75,
while palladium <XPD=> was at $792.98 against $790.75.
Both metals have been helped this year by expectations that
industrial consumption by the automotive sector, which uses
platinum and palladium in autocatalysts, will recover. However,
high prices are likely to weigh on that demand, traders said.
"For the platinum group metals, we saw industrial demand
coming into the market when platinum came down to $1,700 and
palladium down to $735, but at these levels, there is no real
industrial demand around," said Jeremy East, head of commodity
derivatives trading at Standard Chartered
(Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Alison Birrane and Jane
Baird)
