RTRS: Gold rebounds from 2-week low on oil, bargain hunting
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold rebounded from a two-week low on Monday after oil recovered from last week's near-record decline, but recession worries could limit investor's appetite for risky assets and keep bullion trade in a tight range.
Buying from Japanese speculators resurfaced after gold had posted its biggest weekly fall in seven weeks as a dismal U.S. jobs report on Friday sparked selling across the board. Other precious metals also tracked gold higher.
Gold was at $760.35 an ounce, up $5.75 from New York's notional close on Friday, when it fell as low as $740.40. The metal was struggling to sustain gains after a rally to a six-week high of $830.10 in October was met by heavy selling.
Recent strength in the yen against the U.S. dollar spurred buying from Japanese investors but gold prices are still at the mercy of movements in stock markets and oil, said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
"The gold price will be moving in a small range of $750 to $800. As long as the oil price is not so strong and stock prices also fluctuate, gold will be moving in the same range," said Sonoda.
Oil rose $1.42 to $42.23 a barrel on Monday after closing on Friday at $40.81, the lowest settlement since December 10, 2004. Oil shed a quarter of its value last week, the sharpest weekly fall since January 1991.
Worries about rising inflation helped propel gold to a record high of $1,030.80 in March but trading has since been volatile. Gold hit a 13-month low of $680.80 in October, when a sell-off in equities forced investors to cash in to cover losses.
The volatility though doesn't seem to have scared off retail investors, with the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, saying it held757.89 tonnes of gold as of December 5, down just 0.23 tonnes fromNovember 26.
The euro edged up to $1.2748 after falling in New York on Friday, when data showed U.S. employers cut payrolls by a much larger-than-expected 533,000 in November, the sharpest monthly loss since 1974. Markets were expecting 340,000 job losses, according to Reuters data.
"The strength in the euro offers some support for gold, which could find resistance around $767," said a dealer in Singapore, referring to the 5-day moving average.
Platinum was trading at $793.00 an ounce, up $5.00 on speculative buying in Japan, but uncertainties prevailed as the White House and congressional negotiators sought to remove differences over an emergency rescue for the auto industry.
"Many people think the problems faced by General Motors will be settled. The reality is quite different. Even if the U.S. government supplies some money, it's not going to solve any problems," said Sonoda of Daiichi Commodities.
New York gold futures added $9.0 an ounce to $761.2 in electronic trade.
Speculative gold players in the non-commercial category boosted their net long positions to 84,369 long on gold futures traded on COMEX at December 2, up from 81,872 net long lots at November 25, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.