Gold holds above $400 in Asia, US data eyed

Gold held above $400 an ounce in Asia on Friday, buoyed by safe-haven buying after deadly bombs in Iraq and Turkey which triggered a dollar sell-off in New York. Gold regained $400 an ounce for the first time since April on Thursday after insurgents launched bloody assaults in five cities in Iraq to disrupt next week's formal handover to Iraqi rule, killing about 100 people and wounding several hundred.
In Turkey, WE President George W. Bush to Ankara killed four people in the country's two main cities ahead of a visit. Spot gold was trading at $401.40/401.90 an ounce, versus $402.25/403.00 last quoted in New York.
Dealers pegged key support at $395 an ounce. In Tokyo, benchmark April gold futures rose 13 yen per gram to 1,388 yen.
"There's some physical demand but on the other hand, people are also taking profit because of the high prices," said one dealer in Singapore, the entry point for much of bullion trading in Southeast Asia.
"I see a trading range of $398 to $405. It's generally quiet, so we shall see what will happen next week," he said.
Gold has followed movements of the dollar against other currencies in the past few weeks and dealers are waiting for Friday's final reading on US first-quarter gross domestic product, which should provide fresh leads to the US currency.
The market would also be watching next week's Federal Reserve monetary meeting, but investors appeared to have fully factored in a quarter percentage point rise in the official federal funds rate from a 46-year low of one percent, dealers said.
The dollar was at $1.2153 per euro, a touch firmer than in late US trade but still within sight of 2-1/2 week low around $1.22. Higher US interest rates tend to boost demand for the dollar, which would reduce gold's safe-haven status.
But gold can also be used as an inflation hedge, especially because of firm crude oil prices.
Platinum was quoted at $807/812 an ounce, down from $809/814 last quoted in New York.
Palladium touched a two-week high at $232.50 before easing to $227.50/232.50.
That compared with $227/232 in New York. Silver was at $6.14/6.16 an ounce compared with $6.15/6.18.