LONDON, Sept 28: Gold was little changed in a subdued European trading session on Wednesday, with market players looking for a clear direction to make their next moves, dealers said.
The yellow metal was seen hovering in a narrow range in the coming days as the dollar stayed near a recent two-month high against the euro, but good physical demand was seen providing some support.
Spot gold was marginally up at $462.50/463.25 an Ounce versus $462.10/462.80 quoted in late New York trade on Tuesday. The market will be fairly quiet in the next couple of days as it is looking for a direction, said a precious metals trader in London.
He said a price of $460 an ounce was a good level to hold for some time, with a view to breaking higher again.
Gold could face downward pressure from any sale of the metal by central banks and a further rise in the dollar value. It is also vulnerable to some profit-booking by investors, traders said.
The European Central Bank Gold Agreement allows its 15 signatories to sell up to 500 tons of bullion over the next 12 months. Some traders said the selling could start soon to take advantage of current prices, which are not much off last week’s near-18-year high of $475.
Gold had risen on concerns that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita would cause lengthy shortfalls in US crude output and in the process drive up inflation.
Gold should continue to hold around $460-$468 in the coming sessions but is vulnerable to a drop as talk of US interest rate increases add support to the dollar, The Bulliondesk.com said in a daily report.
Silver rose marginally to $7.26/7.29 an ounce from $7.25/7.28 in late New York.
Platinum was at $908/913 versus $913/917, with the market taking note of the news that the first-half trading at Britain’s Johnson Matthey Plc, the world’s biggest distributor of platinum, had been in line with expectations.
The company, which uses the metal to make ingredients for drugs and ceramic coatings as well as catalytic converters for cars, also maintained its guidance for the rest of the year, saying it expected profit for the second half to end-March to be ahead of the first 6 months.—Reuters
