By Arpan Mukherjee Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--Gold prices were in a tight range amid cautious trading in the Asian session Monday with market participants fearing further downside to prices prompted by likely profit-taking by the end of the month. Besides, scheduled events where U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Open Market Committee member William Dudley will in the coming days, could also be key drivers for precious metals this week, a Singapore-based trader said. At 0516 GMT, spot gold was at $1,662.80 a troy ounce, up $2.70 from its previous close. "Physical demand is much lower than what we had seen at the end of last week," he said. Triland Metals said in a note that "the market remains in consolidation mode after the recent fall." The metal has established a range between $1,640/oz-$1,665/oz, the note said. Gold fell sharply earlier this month after the U.S. Federal Reserve quashed chances of any monetary stimulus, or quantitative easing, after upbeat economic data. However a disappointing U.S consumer sentiment survey Friday and below-view industrial production outcome for February have kept the talk of easing still alive. In 2011, gold touched a record high of $1,920.94/oz helped by the easy money policy in the U.S. and low interest rates across the world. IG Markets strategist Stan Shamu said that if the U.S. Federal Reserve remained content with the economic indicators, the prospect of quantitative easing could be pushed back firmly. In such a case, "don't be surprised if you see some downside in the near-term," Shamu said, tipping immediate support at $1,634.10/oz and then at $1,600/oz. In the case of silver, ScotiaMocatta said in a note that key support on the weekly chart was at $29.12/oz, the 50% retracement mark of the long-term uptrend. The house said the earlier support level of $33/oz, already breached, has now become a resistance level. At 0516 GMT, spot silver was at $32.66/oz, up 10 cents, while platinum was at $1,676/oz, up $6 and palladium at $699.70/oz, up 70 cents from its previous close. Metals refiner Johnson Matthey said in a note that a combination of positive outlook, rising investment and continuing uncertainty on the South African supply side meant that platinum was not dragged down "to a significant degree" by gold's selloff last week. In palladium, the house noted that the metal's price moved very little last week as fragile economic confidence outweighed the downward pressure from sliding gold prices. "Chinese passenger car sales data for the first two months of the year showed the biggest decline since 2005, news that was seen as negative for palladium which is mainly used in gasoline emissions control," the house added. -By Arpan Mukherjee, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; arpan.mukherjee@dowjones.com

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