RTRS:PRECIOUS-Gold heads for worst week since June on Syria, Fed
* Gold to end rebound below $1,334 -technicals
* Coming up: U.S. retail sales at 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, recasts)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Gold reversed early gains and
fell to its lowest in more than a month on Friday as U.S.
futures extended losses on fears the United States would curb
its stimulus soon and as a U.S. strike on Syria looked less
likely.
Purchases from jewellers in Hong Kong and mainland China
initially helped gold gain more than half a percent, but heavy
selling of New York COMEX <0#GC:> and bullion futures on Tokyo
Commodity Exchange <0#JAU:> spilled into the cash market.
The U.S. Federal Reserve may announce a cut in its massive
monthly bond purchases on Sept. 18 to start reining in nearly
five years of super-easy dollars that had sparked fears of
inflation and encouraged investors to buy gold.
Cash and U.S. gold futures were on course for their worst
week since June on expectations of the Fed rollback.
"It's just the stop (loss) orders. Obviously people are
getting more and more bearish," said Yuichi Ikemizu, branch
manager for Standard Bank in Tokyo.
U.S. gold futures for December hit an intraday low
of $1,307.80 an ounce, its weakest since August 9, and stood at
$1315.70 by 0647 GMT, down 1.12 percent.
Gold hit a high of $1,330.56 an ounce on physical
buying before falling to a low as $1,307.99, its weakest in five
weeks. It was later quoted at $1,315.61 an ounce, down $4.58.
Trading on COMEX had been momentarily halted at 2:54 a.m.
EDT (0654 GMT) on Thursday by CME Group's Stop Logic mechanism
to prevent large movements. In the one minute around the
20-second trading pause, prices slid $10 with an unusually heavy
4,300 contracts changing hands, Reuters data showed.
Cash gold rallied above $1,430 an ounce to a
three-and-a-half-month high in late August on safe-haven buying
as the United States and its allies looked set to launch
military strikes on Syria.
But the metal's appeal has been dented by diplomatic efforts
to place Syria's chemical weapons under international control,
which may avert a U.S. military strike.
Physical dealers reported buying interest from jewellers,
which could help gold stay above the psychological level of
$1,300.
"We heard in China there's decent buying," said Ronald
Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong,
referring to the world's second-largest consumer.
HSBC Global Research raised its 2013 gold price forecast and
said physical demand is becoming a major driver for the metal.
It lifted its price outlook for this year to $1,446 an ounce
from $1,396, and kept its 2014 forecast unchanged at $1,435.
The Federal Open Market Committee is set to release a policy
statement at the end of its two-day meeting next Wednesday.
