Gold extended gains on Monday, regaining its appeal as a hedge against inflation, as oil prices bounced from a seven-week low and encouraged some investors to put their money back into bullion.
Physical buying from jewellers also lifted prices but overall trading was slow. Gold barely reacted to a series of deadly bombs in India, the world's main consumer, which suggested investors were taking cues from energy and currency markets, dealers said.
Gold rose to $930.20/931.10 an ounce from $927.40/929.40 late in New York on Friday, when it moved in volatile $16 range. Gold was above last week's two-week low of $915.80 an ounce.
"There's a little bit of physical buying around," said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus Ltd in Hong Kong, who expected gold to find resistance at $932 and $935.
New York gold futures firmed on higher oil, while a weaker yen pushed up gold contracts in Tokyo precious metals futures, showing little reaction to the deadly blasts in India.
India's major cities were put on high alert on Sunday, with fears of more attacks after at least 46 people were killed in two days of bombings that hit a communally sensitive western city and a southern hi-tech hub.
In theory, geopolitical tensions boost gold's safe-haven appeal in times of uncertainty.
"Gold will probably continue on a slight bounce and hang around the $925-$930 region for now. We will probably face a bit of resistance around the $935 region," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"We've got to see how the dollar does tonight though," said Koh, adding that the gains were also technically driven after the sharp sell-off to below the $920s level.
Oil added 14 cents to $123.43 a barrel, having fallen to as low as $122.50 on Friday, its lowest since June 5, on worries of slowing demand.
The euro was steady against the dollar at $1.5702.
Spot platinum rose to $1,748.50/1,768.50 an ounce from $1,745.00/1,765.00 late in New York.
Gold futures for August delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $3.4 to $930.20 an ounce.
The most active Tokyo gold contract for June 2009 delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 27 yen per gram higher to 3,256 yen but was off last week's 25-year high of 3.363 yen.
Spot palladium rose to $384.50/392.50 an ounce from $380.50/388.50 late in New York. Silver edged up to $17.40/17.46 an ounce from $17.35/17.43 late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0352 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 930.05 1.35 +0.15 11.69
Spot Silver 17.39 0.02 +0.12 17.74
Spot Platinum 1751.00 5.00 +0.29 15.20
Spot Palladium 384.50 3.50 +0.92 4.48
TOCOM Gold 3256.00 27.00 +0.84 6.41 17808
TOCOM Platinum 6045.00 145.00 +2.46 13.22 11269
TOCOM Silver 610.80 1.40 +0.23 12.90 591
TOCOM Palladium 1368.00 -3.00 -0.22 1.26 839
Euro/Dollar 1.5718
Dollar/Yen 107.83
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
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