July 03, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 28, 1429

LONDON, July 2: Gold eased on Wednesday as the dollar firmed against the euro, prompting profit-taking after the previous session’s 10-week high.

Gold slipped to $934.50/935.50 an ounce from $938.40/939.40 late in New York. It rallied to a high of $945.80 an ounce on Tuesday, its strongest since April 18.

The dollar is stronger, and that is helping along some profit-taking on gold, said Michael Widmer, an analyst at Lehman Brothers.

Gold typically moves in the opposite direction to the dollar as it is often bought as a currency hedge. Dollar-priced gold also becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies when the greenback is soft.

The dollar slipped to a two-month low against the euro on Wednesday, as traders counted on a hike in euro zone interest rates from the European Central Bank on Thursday.

The ECB is expected to raise rates a quarter-point to 4.25 pct in a bid to fight inflation HSBC currency analysts expect the ECB to raise rates...which in combination with generally good euro zone economic data is supporting the EUR/USD and by extension boosting gold prices said HSBC analyst James Steel in a note.

Traders will be watching US oil inventory data due to be released at 1430 GMT for clues as to the next move in oil, which could influence gold.

Today’s key gold market event will be the weekly release of US oil stats, said UBS analyst John Reade.

Among other precious metals, silver inched down to $17.95/18.02 an ounce from $18.08/18.13 late in New York on Tuesday, when it rallied as high as $18.19, its loftiest level since May 27. Spot platinum slid to $2,058.50/2,078.50 an ounce from $2,069.00/2,089.00 late in New York.

Spot palladium was little changed at $466.00/471.00 an ounce from $464.00/472.00 an ounce.—Reuters