Gold was down in late US morning trade on Tuesday but was lifted off its lows by worries over a euro zone economic slowdown and fears that France could be sucked into its spiralling debt crisis. The metal largely ignored news billionaire financier John Paulson slashed a third of its ETF bullion holdings in the third quarter. Analysts said Paulson and other hedge fund managers remained upbeat on gold's outlook despite Paulson's move.
"We do see very active physical and safe-haven buying on dips. Even though we do see pressure from a stronger dollar, dips are seen as buying opportunity and key support levels have held," said David Meger, director of metals trading of futures broker Vision Financial Markets.
Some safe-haven buying lifted gold after eurozone economy posted tepid growth in the third quarter, and a think-tank report said triple-A rated France should also be "ringing eurozone alarm bells" as it could not make rapid adjustments to its economy.
Although gold is traditionally regarded as a safe haven, it has increasingly moved in tandem with other riskier assets due to investor jitters. Shares on Wall Street were again hit by jitters over Europe's debt crisis. Spot gold was off 0.6 percent to $1,769.09 an ounce at 11:38 am EST (1638 GMT), having traded as low as $1,760.04 an ounce early on Tuesday.
US gold for December delivery stood $8.40 lower at $1,770 an ounce. Silver eased 0.3 percent at $34.12 an ounce. Gold largely held its ground after it was reported that Paulson & Co cut its holding in the SPDR Gold Trust to 20.3 million shares from 31.5 million at the end of the second quarter, a US regulatory filing showed late on Monday.
Paulson's move to slash ETF bullion holdings by a third in the third quarter does not appear to be a sign that he is abandoning his upbeat view of the metal, market watchers said. Other notable hedge fund investors in gold, including Windhaven Investment Management and Allianz's PIMCO added shares of the SPDR Gold Trust in the third quarter. Among platinum group metals, platinum fell 0.8 percent to $1,623.74 an ounce and palladium also dropped 0.7 percent at $654.97 an ounce.
Johnson Matthey Co, the world's top supplier of catalytic converters that use platinum group metals to clean car exhaust, said that palladium prices could climb higher and that investors would be net buyers in 2012 after they sold an estimated 215,000 ounces in 2011.