Gold fell towards $1,130 per ounce on Friday as a rising dollar made the metal costlier for non-US investors, but palladium hit an 18-month high as traders continued to see strong investment demand. Currency markets were not moving in gold's favour as the euro fell versus the dollar, with struggles in the Greek economy fuelling concerns about weakness in the eurozone.
"We really need some dollar weakness to push gold higher," said Walter de Wet, an analyst at Standard Bank. "As long as the Greece problems remain headline news we're not going to see that weakness just yet." Spot gold stood at $1,133.70 per ounce at 1338 GMT, compared with $1,142.15 quoted late in New York on Thursday.
US gold futures for February delivery were at $1,132.60 an ounce, versus Thursday's close of $1,143.00 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. On the regulation front, gold market participants were fairly sanguine about the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposal of new measures to rein in speculation in energy and commodity trading, especially oil.
Separately, the London Metal Exchange said it will offer clearing for gold over-the-counter (OTC) contracts in London by the second half of 2010. Gold, seen as a hedge against inflation, was little affected by data showing US consumer prices rose more slowly than expected in December from November. The data pointed to subdued inflation pressures.
Palladium and platinum were supported by strong investment demand from the launch of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) backed by the metals in New York. A US subsidiary of London's ETF Securities launched the products last Friday. By contrast, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,113.750 tonnes as of Jan. 14, down 0.2 percent from the session before.
Palladium traded at $446.00 versus $441.50. The metal earlier hit $451 per ounce, its highest since mid-July 2008. Spot platinum stood at $1,598.00 after rising as high as $1,618.50, and compared with $1,607.00 in New York. "Apparently, a re-allocation in favour of the newly issued palladium and platinum ETFs is taking place at present.
In contrast to gold, demand for these two ETFs remains sustainably high and supports prices," Commerzbank said in a note to clients. Silver traded at $18.49 from $18.64. The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust, said its silver holdings stood at 9,339.19 tonnes as of Jan. 14, down 1.6 percent from the previous business day.
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