Gold traded slightly higher in Asia on Wednesday as the US dollar slipped against currencies across the region, making bullion cheaper to buy. Spot gold was 90 cents up at $451.40/$451.90 an ounce, after starting steady at New York's close of $450.50. "Gold was never really in danger of taking a dive," said one dealer. "The thinking here is still that the dollar's going down."
Profit taking had trimmed about $3 off bullion overnight, reversing a mostly upturned in price over the last week or so to levels last seen in mid-1988. Gold garnered modest support in Asian markets, dealers said, noting the euro was also stronger.
Still, a dip below the technically important $450 an ounce price would likely trigger pre-set stop-loss selling orders, the dealer cautioned. "Gold has had a pretty big month and appears ripe for some profit taking soon," Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a report.
The dollar fell against the euro and the yen in the wake of comments from the European Central Bank president suggesting the ECB was unlikely to intervene to stem the Europe's rise, dealers said.
"Comments like that put gold bugs on alert," one said. The yen was at 102.80 against the dollar versus 102.93. The euro fetched $1.3293 versus $1.3294. The Taiwan dollar climbed to T$32.180 from Tuesday's T$32.205 close.
In the Tokyo futures market, the benchmark October gold futures contract was down 6 yen at 1,501 yen, leading the rest of the complex lower. Silver was 4 cents up at $7.72/$7.74 an ounce.
Platinum was unchanged at $865/$870 an ounce. Palladium rose $2 to $210/$215 an ounce.