Investors keeping an eye on oil and stock markets

Tag : silver bullion
Gold hovered within sight of itslowest level in eight months on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar heldonto gains, prompting investors to trim their bullion holdings.
Silver and palladium also shed early gains, while platinum advancedin a technical rebound but there were no signs of buying fromautomakers, with most Japanese car plants closed for summerholidays.
Gold dropped to $808.10/809.10 an ounce from $814.55/815.55 anounce late in New York on Tuesday, when it tumbled to $801.90 ounce-- its lowest level since late December as investors ditchedbullion on a rally in the dollar.
Gold remains well below a record high of $1,030.80 hit in March.
"I think for the time being, the funds will continue try to testthe $800 level to see whether it can be supported or not," saidDick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus Ltd in Hong Kong.
The dollar held near six-month highs against a basket of majorcurrencies, with investors keeping an eye on oil and stock marketsto gauge how sustainable the recovery may be for the U.S. currency.Spot platinum rose to $1,493.00/1,513.00 an ounce from$1,469.50/1,489.50 late in New York, off Tuesday's eight-month lowat $1,462 an ounce.
"Below $1,500 is a very attractive price level for automobilecompanies. They will soon enter the market but at this moment, it'ssummer holiday in Japan," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metalsanalyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
"The platinum price has already reached its bottom but there are nobuyers in the market," he said.
Platinum hit a lifetime high $2,290 in early March after a powershortage in main producerSouth Africa disrupted mining and sparkedsupply worries.Profit taking and worries about falling demand forautocatalysts have erased all of this year's gains.
Autocatalysts account for more than 60 percent of global platinumuse.
Some dealers in Japan said a trading house bought back contracts inTokyo platinum futures which sank by the daily limit on Tuesday,but selling pressure from retail investors remained high.
Spot palladium rose to $310/315 an ounce from $305.00/313.00 anounce. Silver edged down to $14.47/14.53 an ounce from $14.60/14.66late in New York.
The most active Tokyo gold contract for June 2009 delivery on theTokyo Commodity Exchange ended the morning session 81 yen per gramlower at 2,841 yen.
Gold futures for December delivery on the COMEX division of the NewYork Mercantile Exchange added $1.1 an ounce to $815.7. Preciousmetals prices at 0224 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chgTurnover Spot Gold 807.35 -3.30 -0.41 -3.04 Spot Silver 14.46 0.00+0.00 -2.10 Spot Platinum 1493.00 23.50 +1.60 -1.78 Spot Palladium310.00 4.00 +1.31 -15.76 TOCOM Gold 2841.00 -81.00 -2.77 -7.1649796 TOCOM Platinum 5209.00 -8.00 -0.15 -2.43 12345 TOCOM Silver509.30 -4.40 -0.86 -5.86 860 TOCOM Palladium 1103.00 -15.00 -1.34-18.36 410 Euro/Dollar 1.4918 Dollar/Yen 108.46 TOCOM prices in yenper gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams.Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editingby Michael Urquhart) Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction
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