Gold held most of its early gains on Monday, rising around 1 percent on the back of buoyant Asian stocks and a weaker U.S. dollar versus the euro, and platinum climbed as investors turned buyers in the belief concerns over waning demand were overdone.
Asian stocks jumped 4 percent on Monday on renewed hopes for a bailout of the U.S. carmaker industry. But the White House said on Sunday it did not expect any announcement on the rescue plan before President George W. Bush returned to the United States from Iraq.
Spot gold was at $827.85 an ounce at 7:48 a.m. after climbing as high as $832.55, against New York's notional close of $819.90 on Friday.
"The signs were on the positive side today for gold," a dealer in Sydney said, predicting bullion would hold on to gains in the more active European and U.S. sessions.
Spot platinum recovered more than $30 an ounce, recouping losses incurred on Friday after the U.S. Congress scrapped a bill to save the auto industry. Platinum is used as an autocatalyst to clean auto exhaust fumes.
"We're seeing very major cut backs in platinum production now to address lower demand," Patterson Securities analyst Andrew Harrington said.
The metal was given a late boost when Aquarius Platinum announced its Everest mine, suspended last week due to geotechnical problems, would remain shut for at least six months.
Platinum was showing a modest premium to gold again on Monday after being briefly in discount late last week for the first time since December 1996, according to Reuters data.
"Some investors may be saying, wait a minute platinum's almost at parity with gold and see this as a time to buy," Harrington said.
COMEX gold futures were higher in Asia after falling more than $6 per ounce on Friday.
The most active February contract was trading up 0.85 percent at $827.50 an ounce in after-hours trading on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Arbitrage buyers were also active in gold as worsening U.S. economic data, a rapidly growing fiscal deficit and the likelihood the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again this week all combined to push the dollar to a two-month low against the euro at one point.
"The tide seems to have turned around in recent sessions, with bad U.S. economic news now rightfully hurting the U.S. dollar rather than helping it stronger," said Nizam Idris, currency strategist with UBS in Singapore.
Gold was also supported after oil rose to $47 a barrel on Monday on signs that OPEC members are set to make another deep cut in supply when it meets on Wednesday.
The benchmark October gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 57 yen per gram to 2,418 yen.
Spot platinum rose to $837 an ounce, up sharply from $805.50 in New York before giving back about $8.
Palladium, another metal used as an autocatalyst, rose to $175 an ounce from $168.
