MARKET ROUNDUP Precious metals posted moderate increases yesterday but ended flat, as investors saw a buying opportunity the day after the precious metal slid to a six-week low. IN FOCUS - The world's largest gold-backed exchangetraded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings stood at 1,124.647 tonnes as of March 25, up 4.568 tonnes from the previous business day. - The world's largest silver-backed exchange- traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust, said its holdings stood at 9278.18 tonnes as of March 25, unchanged from the previous business day. - Gold prices will remain range bound with a downward bias as better economic sentiment prompts stiff competition from other assets, but the metal should benefit as a safe haven from long-term currency depreciation, said Dan Denbow, co-manager of the USAA Precious Metals and Minerals Fund. - Miner Petropavlovsk has twice as much gold in its mines in Russia's far east as it previously estimated, it said on Thursday, underscoring the benefits of a switch in reporting standards. - Century Mining Corporation reports record gold production at San Juan gold mine in Peru. It says Q4 gold production was 4,744 ounces versus 3,347 ounces in Q4 2008. - The financial aid mechanism for Greece agreed by euro zone leaders on Thursday is workable but unlikely ever to be activated, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said. FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK Precious metals are trading a tad higher on COMEX today. In the evening session we have the GDP numbers to be released by the US. Any positive surprise in those numbers will lead to some risk-appetite in the markets. This is likely to pressurize the dollar thus, supporting the prices of precious metals.

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