By Arpan Mukherjee Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--Gold pared some of its losses in the Asian session Monday, but traders appeared uncertain about the near-term outlook in the metal as some investors opted to cash out and book profits, while some considered the present price level a good entry point. At 0525 GMT, spot gold was at $1,693.40 a troy ounce, down $17.90 from its previous close. The yellow metal fell 1.6% to $1,684.70/oz earlier in the day, the lowest level in the session so far. Investors remained worried about the progress of efforts to resolve the euro-zone debt crisis as many consider the European Union's plan to strengthen member states' fiscal discipline insufficient to resolve the two-year old crisis. "It appears gold will remain under pressure as the year-end approaches," said a Hong Kong-based trader, adding that with most investors are still wary about the global economic outlook. With many of them still on the sidelines, gold is likely to trade in a tight range till the end of the year, he said. Spot gold, which has been more of a risk asset in recent weeks, has fallen by about 12% from its September 6 high of $1,920.94/oz, but is still about 19% higher than prices at the start of 2011. A Singapore-based trader said that a flurry speculative selling around mid-morning pushed down prices. He said gold appeared oversold at current levels and could move towards $1,750/oz in the near term. "This is a good level to buy and we will slowly see people coming back to buy gold," the trader said, tipping strong support at $1,660/oz. In the case of silver, HSBC analyst James Steel raised the price forecasts to $34/oz in 2012 from $32/oz earlier and to $32/oz in 2013 from $30/oz, earlier, though the house is "not unreservedly bullish." He said investor sentiment will be an important driver of silver prices in 2012 with jewelry demand rising moderately and industrial demand rising at a slower pace than thought earlier. At 0525 GMT, spot silver was at $31.71/oz, down 52 cents from its previous close. Earlier in the day, the grey metal fell 2.4% to the session's low of $31.47/oz. Deutsche Bank said the outlook for both silver and platinum group of metals appeared vulnerable due to weak global economic growth. Unlike gold, silver, platinum and palladium have widespread industrial applications. Spot platinum was at $1,499/oz, down $14 and palladium was at $673/oz, down $11 from its previous close. -By Arpan Mukherjee, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; arpan.mukherjee@dowjones.com

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