Gold inched up on Tuesday, taking a breather after a 1.4 percent drop on Monday when Wall Street rallied and dented the precious metal's appeal as a safe haven from volatility in other markets amid a global recession. FUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $918.80 per ounce at 2359 GMT, compared with New York's notional close of $917.20. Gold is still within reach of a high of $933.65 hit on Friday, its highest in seven weeks, after data showed U.S. core inflation in April rose more than expected. * U.S. gold futures for June delivery GCM9 fell 0.2 percent to $919.50 per ounce, compared with Monday's settlement of $921.70 an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. * The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, said its holdings stood at 1,105.62 tonnes as of May 18, unchanged from the previous business day. [GOL/SPDR] * Holdings of Zurich Cantonal Bank's silver-backed ETF (ZSIL.S: Quote, Profile, Research) rose more than 175,500 ounces or 0.4 percent in the week to May 15. [ID:nLI627261] * ETF Securities said the amount of metal it holds to back its Physical Platinum exchange-traded commodity (PHPT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 13.6 percent in the week to May 15. [ID:nLI333476] * Anglo Platinum (AMSJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Neville Nicolau said he expects the company to at least break even this year, and stuck to the company's annual production target of 2.4 million ounces. [ID:nLI511157] MARKET NEWS * The yen extended falls versus the dollar after being punted lower on Monday by a rally in stocks reviving risk appetite and after comments from a Japanese official spurred speculation authorities in Japan may intervene to slow its currency's rise. [USD/] * Tokyo's Nikkei share average opened up 1.5 percent. [.T] * U.S. stocks rallied on Monday as better-than-expected results from the No.2 U.S. home improvement retailer, Lowe's Cos Inc (LOW.N: Quote, Profile, Research), helped spark broad-based buying on hopes the recession is easing and consumer spending is stabilising. [.N] * Oil prices rose nearly 4.8 percent to a six-month high on Monday as violence in Africa's top crude exporter Nigeria and a fire at a key U.S. East Coast refinery revived concern about supplies. [O/R] * Platinum could climb to $1,350 an ounce in the next six months if investment demand firms and Chinese jewellery buying stays strong, but weak auto usage will still weigh on prices, refiner Johnson Matthey (JMAT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said. [ID:nWLA4525] * A Reuters poll of metals analysts forecast a median platinum price of $1,200 an ounce in 2010, slightly up from an estimated $1,100 this year. [ID:nLI693196] DATA EVENTS * The following data and events are due on Tuesday: ECON - UK CPI/RPI for April (0830 GMT) - German ZEW Economic Survey for May (0900 GMT) - U.S. housing starts/building permits for April (1230 GMT) RELATED NEWS >TAKE A LOOK-Reuters stories on Platinum Week [ID:nLF825216] >Global stocks rise on economy optimism,bonds off[ID:nN18369609] >Global bank officials see improvements;stocks up [ID:nSP475971] >Goldman,JPMorgan,MS apply to repay TARP-reports [ID:nN18348890] >Euros overtake dollars in Russia's reserves [ID:nLI467295] >Best Asset Class sees value in platinum [ID:nLI439492] PRICES Precious metals prices at 0019 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30 RSI Spot gold $918.20 $1.00 +0.11% +2.36% $860.10 56 Spot silver $13.77 $0.05 +0.36% +14.94% $11.29 58 Spot plat $1128.00 -$0.50 -0.04% +2.50% $1138.73 52 COMEX gold $918.70 $0.50 +0.05% -1.35% $901.55 55 TOCOM gold 2,859 -1 -0.03% -0.21% 2,850 45 TOCOM plat 3,529 119 +3.49% +3.19% 3,644 44 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.355 -$0.001 -0.09% +0.49% Dlr/yen 96.42 0.18 +0.19% +1.54%

Source