Gold steadied above $800 an ounce on Thursday, regaining strength as worries over credit markets and slowing US growth lifted its appeal as an alternative investment, while Tokyo futures were pressured by a firm yen.
Spot gold edged up to $801,30/802,50 an ounce from $799,80/800,50 late in New York, when it gained nearly $6 on a tumbling dollar and near-record crude oil.
Koji Suzuki, a market analyst at Kazaka Commodity Co Ltd, said the gold market was focused on how the currency and crude oil markets were likely to move after traders returned from this week’s holidays.
US markets are closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, while those in Japan will be closed on Friday for a national holiday.
"Whatever happens gold prices will be stuck at high levels,&qutrack feader for crusher plantsot; Suzuki said.
Dealers pegged immediate resistance at $809, with near-term support levels seen at $797 and $780.
Charts indicated gold was moving away from oversold territory and heading towards a 28-year high of $845,40 hit on November 7.
Suzuki said gold’s fortunes were likely to be increasingly determined by crude oil’s strength.
Gold has historically received a boost from high oil prices as some investors look to the metal as an inflation hedge.
track crushing station"I think there is a sense of fatigue about having the dollar dictate direction," Suzuki said.
The dollar hit a record low against the euro and a basket of currencies on Thursday as expectations for a further Federal Reserve interest rate cut were reinforced by the central bank’s projection that US economic growth will slow next year.
The euro hit a record high of $1,4872 on electronic trading platform EBS.
The yen held steady near its highest level against the dollar in 2-½ years.
jaw crusher for precipitated calcium carbonateThe US currency was up slightly from late US trade on Wednesday at 108,70. It recovered from a low of 108,29 yen hit earlier in the session.
The Nikkei 225 hit a fresh 16-month low of 14,669.85, before ending the morning session down 0,4 percent at 14 777,91.
The benchmark October 2008 gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 4 yen per gram, or 0,1 percent, to close the morning at 2 832 yen, the session high. The low was 2 814 yen, down 0,8 percent from Thursday.
Gold demand for jewellery and investment jumped in India, China and other Asian countries in the third quarter of 2007 despite high prices, driven by strong economic growth and firm local currencies.
China’s jewellery demand jumped 24 percent to 74,8 tonnes in the third quarter, when gold recaptured $700 and began the uptrend. Investment demand in China, the world’s third largest consumer, rose 46 percent to 4,1 tonnes.
NYMEX crude for January delivery was unchanged at $97,29 per barrel in Globex electronic trading, after falling nearly a dollar in the previous session on a large increase in crude stockpiles in US government data.
It sprinted to a new record of $99,29 in the previous session.
Silver edged down to $14,45/14,49 an ounce from $14,47/14,51 late in New York.
Platinum gained to $1 464/1 469 an ounce from $1 461/1 465 an ounce.
Palladium was flat at $354/358 an ounce.
The most-active December gold contract on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $5,1 to $803,7 an ounce on electronic trade.