Gold traded near the highest in more than a week as the US dollar halted a rally against major counterparts, potentially boosting investment demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Gold for immediate delivery was little changed at $US1,159.60 an ounce at 9:39 a.m. in Singapore, after rising as much as 0.2 per cent to $US1,160.10, the highest price since April 16. The metal advanced 1.4 per cent on April 23 as Greece lined up an emergency aid package to bolster its finances.
``The market is quite balanced in a range between $US1,130 and $US1,160 for now,'' said Ellison Chu, a manager at Standard Bank Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. ``In the longer term, we expect gold to move higher because I'm still bearish on the dollar.''
The Dollar Index was little changed after rising to 82.07 on April 23, the highest level since March 25. Asian currencies, led by the won, and regional stocks gained today amid signs of a firmer economic recovery.
Greece needs to repay 8.5 billion euros ($12.3 billion) of bonds on May 19. Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, talking to reporters in Washington as he negotiated a three-year loan with the International Monetary Fund and European governments, said money will be available ``rather soon.''
Silver rose 0.3 per cent to $US18.3925 an ounce, and platinum gained 0.4 per cent to $US1,747.75 an ounce, nearing a 20-month high of $US1,754.85 touched on April 22. Palladium gained 0.8 per cent at $US567.50 an ounce, nearing the 25-month high of $US572 also reached on April 22.
Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators decreased their net-long position in New York gold futures in the week ended April 20, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 210,651 contracts on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. Net-long positions fell by 10,091 contracts, or 5 per cent, from a week earlier.
