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Strategies & Market Trends : Galapagos Islands -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cisco who wrote (20324)	1/9/2003 6:07:59 AM
From: Cisco	Respond to of 57110

Sydney, Jan 09, 2003 (ODJ via COMTEX) -- (Dow Jones) - Spot gold traded in a narrow range Thursday in Asia, with selling in late Asian trade eroding earlier gains from a stronger yen against the U.S. dollar, traders said. Concerns over softer crude oil prices, together with signs gold might be overbought technically, led market participants to be more cautious about buying gold aggressively, said a Hong Kong-based trader. A rising crude oil price is one of the key factors pushing up gold prices, as gold is traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation. However, bearish overnight data from the American Petroleum Institute and U.S. Department of Energy that bucked forecasts for a big decline in U.S. stocks led crude oil futures lower, with February falling US$0.52 cents a barrel to US$30.56/bbl Wednesday. The fall in crude prices crimped gold's rise, and sidelined some participants who await further cues on direction as seen by the thin trading volumes, traders said. "Technically, it (gold) also looks overbought," said the Hong Kong-based trader. At 0700 GMT, gold was quoted at US$353.60 a troy ounce, down 57 cents from US$354.17/oz in New York late Wednesday. Thursday Change On Wednesday Thursday Leading 0700 GMT New York Late HK Range Tocom Gold 353.60 dn 0.57 347.13 346.15-354.50 1,350 Silver 4.85 dn 0.01 4.80 4.83-4.89 18.46 Plat. 616.00 unchanged 605.50 610.00-621.00 2,219 Pall. 261.00 up 3.00 240.00 253.00-269.00 986 (Prices in dollars/troy ounce, except Tocom in yen/gram.) Spot gold opened in Hong Kong at US$354.50/oz. The falls reversed gains made in early Asian trade, when Japanese investors bought gold, as a stronger yen made the dollar-denominated bullion more affordable, said a Sydney-based trader. The dollar broke a key support level of Y119 overnight and in early Tokyo trade Thursday, after Japanese institutional investors continued to repatriate the yen before the Japanese fiscal year ends in March. At 0654 GMT Thursday, the dollar fetched Y118.90, down from Y119.12 late Wednesday in New York and Y120.18 late Wednesday in Tokyo. The buying took gold to the session's high of US$354.50/oz, but met resistance at those levels, not surprisingly given that is near the top of the US$342-US$357/oz range it has traded in so far this year, said the Sydney- based trader. In the short term, gold could come under further selling pressure as a failure to breach US$355/oz soon could indicate it needs another round of consolidation after rising to US$356.60/oz Monday, said traders. Also likely to weigh on gold is the outcome of a meeting by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, scheduled for Jan. 12, as the cartel is expected to decide to raise crude output. But in the longer-term, traders said they are still bullish on gold's outlook, saying it may even rise to US$400/oz this year. "It has broken through some very key resistance levels over the last few months, so people are thinking that US$400/oz may not be an unrealistic number after all," the Sydney-based trader said. In Japan, gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange gained Y11-Y13/gram, with the benchmark December 2003 contract closing Y12/gram higher at Y1,350/gram. A total of 107,211 lots of gold futures were traded, compared with 75,207 lots Wednesday. --- Wong Chia Peck, Dow Jones Newswires, 612-8235-2957 chia-peck.wong@dowjones.com