SINGAPORE: Gold dropped on Friday as speculators booked profits from this week's rally to a four-month high, but worries about Greece's debt crisis could keep the metal's safe haven appeal intact and help it defy pressure from a rising US dollar. Bullion was hovering above the closely-watched 14-, 50- and 100-day moving averages, with a dip in prices likely to ignite physical buying and take it back to a peak near $1,170 an ounce hit on Monday. Spot gold was at $1,154.95 an ounce by 0539 GMT, down $3.00 from New York's notional close on Thursday, when it briefly crossed the $1,160 level. It hit an intraday high of $1,159.45 on Friday on light investor buying. "I think we're in a little bit of a consolidation period at the moment. But I think overall, the signs are still good for gold," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia in Sydney. "We're waiting for either further news on the Greece situation to come out, which obviously caused a little bit of movement into gold yesterday. At the same time, the market is poised to hear more on the data front to suggest where we are in terms of economic recovery." Gold rallied to $1,168.70 on Monday, its strongest since December 4 after a downgrade of Greece's debt renewed fears over the euro zone's financial stability. Gold struck a record above $1,200 in December. COMEX June gold fell $5.2 an ounce to $1,155.1 after a volatile trade the previous day. The euro dipped on Friday, under pressure from scepticism about Greece servicing its debt, while the yen surged as caution about a possible revaluation by China led yen sellers to close short positions ahead of the weekend. Euro-priced gold and sterling-priced gold were within sight of their recent records. The euro has lost more than 5 per cent against the US dollar since the start of the year as investors sold the single currency in droves on worries that Greece would default on its debt obligations. "Stronger Asian currencies have led to light buying and I would say the selling is actually not that much. I think what's been happening is that people will buy gold and sell stocks or vice versa," said a bullion dealer in Hong Kong. "Thailand may be selling gold when the market reopens next week after the holiday. The baht is weakening because of the internal problems there." Thai anti-government protest leaders staged a dramatic escape from police on Friday after the authorities vowed to crack down on what they termed "terrorists" ahead of a planned speech by the prime minister. The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at a record of 1,141.041 tonnes as of April 15, unchanged from the previous business day.

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