RTRS:PRECIOUS-Gold slips, Europe gloom weighs ahead of G20
* Gold likely rangebound, Europe eyed
* Spot silver falls nearly 3 pct
* Spot gold could fall to $1,705 -technicals
* Coming Up: ECB rate decision
(Updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Spot gold inched lower on
Thursday, tracking the downbeat sentiment in riskier assets as
investors remained worried about the euro zone's debt crisis
ahead of a Group of 20 summit.
Gold has been rangebound in the past week or so, with the
threat of a potentially disastrous Greek default burnishing
gold's safe-haven appeal while fears of a liquidity crunch in
case of a default have kept gains in check.
France and Germany, angered at Greece's shock move to call
for a referendum on its latest bailout plan, told Prime Minister
George Papandreou on Wednesday that Athens would not receive EU
aid until it decides whether it wants to stay in the euro zone.
A Group of 20 summit is to take place on Thursday and
Friday, with Europe's debt crisis expected to dominate the
talks.
"There are too many things to watch out for," said Ronald
Leung, a physical dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong
Kong. "People are waiting for more news on euro zone and how the
economy fares."
Gold may remain in a range between $1,700 and $1,750 in
absence of news that could point to a clear direction, traders
said.
Spot gold lost 0.6 percent to $1,727.29 an ounce by
0738 GMT, snapping two consecutive sessions of gains.
U.S. gold GCcv1 was flat at $1,728.50.
Spot gold could drop to $1,705 an ounce during the day, said
Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
Asia's physical gold buying slowed as high prices and
uncertainty around the euro zone's debt crisis pushed market
participants to the sidelines.
Asian shares, the euro and commodities fell on Thursday as
fears that Europe's debt crisis could unleash financial chaos
prompted investors to shed riskier assets in favour of the
relative safety of the dollar, ahead of a rate decision by the
European Central Bank and the G20 summit.
The ECB was expected to hold interest rates steady, after
the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it was mulling the
possibility of buying more mortgage debt to spur a struggling
recovery but offered no new stimulus, to the disappointment of
some gold investors.
The previous two rounds of quantitative easing by the Fed,
dubbed as QE1 and QE2, helped propel gold on its record-setting
rally from 2009.
Spot silver dropped as much as 2.8 percent to $33.25,
before regaining some lost ground to trade at $33.41.
"With the uncertainty on QE3, and lack of physical demand
from industrial users, silver is going neither here not there,"
said a Shanghai-based trader.
Holdings of the iShares Silver Trust , the world's
largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, edged down 4.07
tonnes from a day earlier to 9,776.14 tonnes by Nov. 2.
Precious metals prices 0738 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1727.29 -10.41 -0.60 21.69
Spot Silver 33.41 -0.81 -2.37 8.26
Spot Platinum 1587.49 -8.76 -0.55 -10.18
Spot Palladium 637.97 -8.91 -1.38 -20.20
TOCOM Gold 4351.00 18.00 +0.42 16.68 24843
TOCOM Platinum 4024.00 6.00 +0.15 -14.31 3493
TOCOM Silver 84.90 1.60 +1.92 4.81 185
TOCOM Palladium 1641.00 21.00 +1.30 -21.75 56
COMEX GOLD DEC1 1728.50 -1.10 -0.06 21.61 17632
COMEX SILVER DEC1 33.44 -0.50 -1.48 8.08 4546
Euro/Dollar 1.3661
Dollar/Yen 78.03
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
