Gold dipped in profit taking on Monday after touching a one-week high last week, while Tokyo futures fell on a firmer yen. Spot gold fell to $671.90/672.40 an ounce, from $674.10/674.90 late in New York on Friday, when it hit its highest in a week at $674.20 an ounce as the dollar weakened on lower-than-expected US data on jobs growth.
"There's been some sporadic cases of profit taking," said Koji Suzuki, market analyst at Kazakh Commodity Co Ltd Bullion has so far moved in a narrow range of $670.90 to $672.70. Suzuki said persistent worries about problems in the US supreme market would continue to be carefully tracked for its possible impact on gold.
Most active June 2008 gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange closed the down 13 yen per gram, or 0.5 percent at 2,567 yen, after moving between 2,562 yen and 2,570 yen. "There's still some wariness about how the Japanese stock market is going to move, which is weighing on TOCOM gold," Suzuki said.
Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.9 percent as exporters such as Canon Inc lost ground on a tumble on Wall Street and a stronger yen. The index ended the session down 148.16 points at 16,831.70.
The most active December contract on "mini" gold futures contract fell 11 yen per gram to close the at 2,553 yen. Newmont Mining said on Monday that stony demand from the jewellery sector was set to push gold prices up to around $750 an ounce in the northern autumn. The dollar tumbled to a four-month low against the yen on Monday as worries about a credit crunch prompted an unwinding of risky carry trades.
It fell to 117.19 yen on electronic trading platform EBS, its lowest level since late March, extending losses after US share prices tumbled on Friday. The euro rose as high as $1.3840 on EBS, nearing a record high of $1.3853 hit in late July.
Crude oil on Monday extended the previous session's decline on poor US economic data, providing another factor to weigh on gold. US crude fell by as much as 91 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $74.57 in trade. In industry-related news, the total amount of gold held by the world's four major exchange-trade funds (ETFs) rose to record levels last week, pointing to strong demand for bullion, a sector analyst said on Monday.
Gold held by the four ETFs rose by a net 10 tonnes to 628 tonnes, or around 20.2 million ounces, worth about $13.5 billion, Sandra Close, director of Melbourne-based Surbiton Associates, said. Platinum was virtually unchanged at $1,288/1,293 an ounce, compared with $1,287/1,292. Silver edged down to $13.06/13.11 an ounce from $13.10/13.15 an ounce. Palladium was flat at $362/366 an ounce.
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