Tokyo gold futures got a bit of a bounce on Thursday, recovering from the previous day's near two-week low, but activity was mostly limited to position adjustments ahead of next week's string of holidays in Japan.
Financial markets will be closed next on Monday, Thursday and Friday for Japan's "Golden Week" holidays. The benchmark most-distant April gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange finished the at 2,641 yen, up 8 yen, after trading between 2,639 yen and 2,646 yen.
"Some players are bullish given news of launches of Etc. (exchange-traded commodities), and are buying," said Hisaaki Tasaka, a market analyst at Ace Koeki Co Ltd. He added, however, that activity was still slow. Etches have been launched recently to feed investors' growing appetite for raw materials.
On Tuesday, London-based ETF Securities launched exchange traded funds based on physical precious metals, including gold and platinum, on the London Stock Exchange, with an initial float size of $25 million. Switzerland's Zurich Cantonal Bank also plans to launch ETFs in platinum, palladium and silver by May 10. News of the launch of ETFs has been instrumental in lifting the TOCOM benchmark platinum contract to an all-time high of 4,942 yen on Monday.
Spot gold was fetching $685.10/$685.60 an ounce, compared with $684.50/$685.00 last quoted in New York. In the currency market, the dollar slipped slightly to 118.58/118.61 yen, compared with around 118.75 yen in late New York trading.
The dollar stayed in sight of its record low against the euro on Thursday as it struggled after mixed US data that failed to allay market concerns about a slowdown in the US economy. Benchmark April platinum futures finished the at 4,899 yen, up 33 yen, after trading between 4,889 yen and 4,908 yen. Spot platinum was at $1,306/$1,311, up from New York levels of $1,298/$1,303 an ounce.
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