Gold edged up on Monday after falling in the previous session on US payrolls data and unfounded reports that President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt may step down soon, but gains in equity markets and industrial metals continued to weigh on bullion. Signs of improvement in the US economy drove copper prices, often seen as a barometer of economic conditions, to an all-time high above $10,120 a tonne while denting gold's safe-haven appeal.
Spot gold added $1.01 to $1,347.91 an ounce - still well below a record high around $1,430 an ounce in December. US gold futures for April barely moved at $1,348.9 an ounce. "I think that markets viewed the (US) payroll report as positive in general. Copper surged above $10,000 a tonne. If you look at industrial metals and equities, they have moved higher," said Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst at Phillip Futures.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings slipped to 1,228.864 tonnes by February 4 from 1,229.277 tonnes on February 3. In other precious metals, silver hardly moved, palladium tracked equities higher, while platinum slipped after rising to its highest since 2008 on Friday.
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