NY precious metals up midday as funds shortcover
NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuter) - New York precious metals remained firmer midday as fund shortcovering lifted both gold and silver which lent support to the white metals, the latter also strengthened by earlier dealer buying, traders said.
A COMEX floor source said if August COMEX gold broke above $332.00, seen as the next level of resistance, this would prompt further shortcovering by the funds.
At 1206 EDT August gold was up $2.80 at $329.00 an ounce, traded $330.20 to $326.20. Bullion was quoted at $328.20/$328.70 an ounce.
COMEX September silver was 8.7 cents firmer at $4.345.
Upside resistance in September silver was pegged at $4.36 and then $4.39 to $4.40 an ounce, floor sources said.
Some dealers said the shortcovering in gold and silver was by the same couple of players.
At noon, volume in gold and silver were estimated at 38,000 and 9,000 lots respectively.
The precious metals markets were also awaiting U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony to the U.S. Congress later Tuesday.
Platinum and palladium firmed on the back of gold along with some dealer buying in palladium earlier, NYMEX floor sources said.
Russian shipments of palladium to Japan resumed last week, but no platinum has arrived.
Midday, both markets quickly eased back from the day's highs.
In addition in platinum, locals had expected to trigger some stops above the market and therefore bid the price up to $408.50 an ounce in the October NYMEX contract, but no follow through appeared, floor sources said.
October platinum was up $6.00 at $405.50 an ounce, traded $408.50 to $402.00.
September palladium was up $7.20 at $178.50 an ounce, traded $180.30 to $173.00. |
