By Clementine Wallop Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Gold traded in a tight range in Asia Wednesday as investors weighed slow physical demand against supportive Chinese purchasing managers' index data for January. Spot gold was trading at $1,737.10 a troy ounce at 0530 GMT, up 40 cents from its previous settlement. It traded no higher than $1,740.70/oz and no lower than $1,734.40/oz as investors limited their bets following last month's near-11% gain. The yellow metal took support Wednesday from China's PMI reading for January, which rose to 50.5 from 50.3 in December. While industrial metals are usually more sensitive to Chinese manufacturing data than precious metals, the reading helped shore up sentiment across commodities markets. Over the next few weeks, gold will remain sensitive to macroeconomic indicators from the world's major economies, particularly the U.S. and the euro zone, Phillip Futures Investment Analyst Ong Yi Ling said. "I think that going forward, gold is still going to be looking at the U.S. and the euro zone for direction," she said. The major price driver later this week will be U.S. non-farm payrolls data, due for release Friday, she said. Worse-than-expected figures usually boost demand for gold as a store of value, while upbeat data increases risk appetite and can weigh on safe-haven assets. Ong tipped key support at $1,600/oz and resistance at $1,800/oz. Throughout this year, gold will continue to draw strength from moves by central banks to maintain their accommodative monetary policy, she said. Standard Chartered said in a report that it expects prices to trend higher in the next few months, and forecast a second-quarter average of $1,800/oz. "We look for higher prices as fundamentals remain supportive and Chinese imports are strong," it said, tipping the next major resistance at $1,765/oz. Platinum was the biggest gainer among precious metals, rising $5.50 to $1,591.50/oz, up 14.1% since the start of the year. The white metal is taking support from a higher rate of safety stoppages at mines, concerns over South African capacity and improving industrial production indicators from Japan, Mitsui Global Precious Metals said in a note. Silver rose 12 cents to $33.25/oz and palladium rose 25 cents to $683.25/oz. -By Clementine Wallop; Dow Jones Newswires; 65 64154 082; clementine.wallop@dowjones.com

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