RTRS: Gold dips on equities, dollar; ETF unchanged
TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold eased a touch on Friday, erasing earlier gains as a steadier dollar and a rally in equities eroded some of the precious metal's appeal as an alternative investment.
Bullion is poised to end the week almost flat after falling 2.4 percent last week. It has risen more than 10 percent in the past eight weeks from an April trough of $864.00.
Spot gold fell about 0.1 percent to $953.10 per ounce as of 0534 GMT from New York's notional close of $954.00 on Thursday, when it climbed as high as $961.70.
It has lost ground since rising as high as $957.95 on Friday.
"Within this range, we don't see much activity...It depends on the performance of the U.S. dollar," said Beh Hsia Wah, a dealer at United Overseas Bank in Singapore, referring to the recent $940 to $960 range for spot gold.
"I don't expect much from the market and I don't know where it is going (in the near future), to be frank," she added.
Gold approached the $1,000 an ounce mark last week as a steadily weakening dollar combined with better economic sentiment boosted investment demand.
But it stopped rising at $989.80 and fell as the dollar rallied on encouraging U.S. jobs data late last week, before paring gains this week.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery fell 0.8 percent to $954.5 per ounce on Friday, compared with the previous day's settlement of $962.00 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A weak dollar makes gold cheaper for non-U.S. investors and also makes it appealing to investors looking to hedge the value of dollar-based assets.
The dollar was steady against other major currencies on Friday after falling the previous day when improved U.S. labour market and retail sales figures boosted optimism about the economy, eroding the dollar's allure as a safe haven.
Japan's Nikkei average rose about 1 percent to hit its highest level in eight months on Friday as improving confidence about the health of the global economy spurred broad-based gains.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings were steady at 1,132.15 tonnes as of June 11, unchanged since June 5.
