LONDON, July 22: Gold rose 1.2 per cent as the dollar held near record lows against the euro, oil firmed, and the equity markets softened, boosting interest in the precious metal as an alternative investment to stocks.

Spot gold rose to $972.40/973.40 an ounce at 0921 GMT from $961.75/963.15 an ounce late in New York on Monday. Earlier on Tuesday gold futures in Tokyo hit a 25-year high on fund buying.

Some of the financial stocks had seemed to be rebounding, but that is proving to be short-lived, said Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet.

The $129/130 support level also seems to have held for crude, which is also supporting gold on the downside,” said de Wet.

Investment interest in the precious metals is firm, with holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust in New York -- the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund -- rising to 705.59 tons on Monday, close to a record high.

Silver holdings of the United States’ largest silver-backed ETF, iShares Silver Trust, were also at a record 6,092.31 tons on July 16, the last day for which holdings were published.

Among other precious metals, platinum rebounded, climbing more than 2 per cent to a session high of $1,880 an ounce, as investors feared last week’s correction lower may have been overdone.

Platinum group Johnson Matthey said in its first-half earnings report that it had seen strong growth in autocatalyst sales in Asia, though it added sales have dropped in North America.

Autocatalyst manufacturing is a key use of platinum. Spot platinum was trading at $1,869.00/1,889.00 an ounce against $1,837/1,857 in New York, recovering from an 11-week low of $1,825.50 it hit earlier in the session.

Tight fundamentals will help limit further significant price weakness in the coming sessions, while chart support is pegged at $1,828/1,800,” said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.

Silver rose to $18.57/18.64 an ounce from $18.35/18.43 late in New York. Spot palladium rose to $417.50/425.50 an ounce from $410.50/418.50 late in New York.—-Reuters