Gold consumers across Asia greeted bullion's run to a record high cautiously yesterday, with a few moving to cash in gains but the majority opting to wait for the rest of a rally they believe has just begun. In contrast to a second day of busy trade on global gold markets, the scene at shops and jewellery merchants from Sydney to Hong Kong to Mumbai was marked by a distinct lack of occasion, suggesting that the wave of retail scrap selling that greeted gold's record run in March last year might not be quick to recur. "(Wednesday's) been like any other day," said David Carr, of KJC Coins Australia, which deals in precious metal coins and bars. "No one's coming in to sell gold because the price jumped overnight, it's more wait and see, business as usual." The Australian outback gold mining town of Kalgoorlie, home to a giant electronic ticker tape broadcasting up-to-the-minute bullion prices, also was quiet. Profit taking replaced gold purchases that in New York and across Europe on Tuesday had swept spot bullion more than $10 (R74.55) above its previous March 2008 peak, and carried through yesterday to a record $1 048.20 an ounce. The issue of scrap supply in the gold market - generated largely from the resale of jewellery to merchants - has taken on greater importance in recent years, as the advent of physically backed exchange-traded funds attracts new investors. The biggest such fund now holds more than 1 000 tons of gold, equivalent to the world's fifth-largest central bank, and analysts had said that only the flow of scrap material into the market had prevented gold from soaring much sooner, much higher. While there was some evidence of retail sales, it was not overwhelming. "I am making a 10 percent profit already so I am selling," said Nguyen Duc Hung while waiting to sell five taels of gold (about 6.0278 ounces) at a shop in Hanoi, Vietnam. To date, there have been no reports of gold hoarders burying stashes in secret spots as was the case in 1980, when gold zoomed above $800 an ounce for the first time, or about double yesterday's level when adjusted for inflation. One reason Asian consumers may not be rushing to sell is that gold's record high is limited to those trading in the dollar, whose steady decline since March has been the biggest factor in bullion's rise. In the Australian dollar, gold prices are down 20 percent since March; in the yen, they are still far from their peaks. The next focus for the market will be India, where consumer demand typically peaks next week for the Dhanteras and Diwali festivals. - Reuters Rally eases Gold eased from record highs yesterday as investors took profits, but sentiment remained bullish and a fresh record was within sight as the dollar's weakness and inflation concerns reinforced bullion's appeal as a hedge. Spot gold and US gold futures have benefited from technical buying, talk of countries diversifying foreign reserves or settlement currencies away from the dollar, and inflation concerns fuelled by current fiscal stimulus measures and monetary easing. Spot gold was steady at $1 040.65 (R7 758) an ounce yesterday morning, down from a high of $1 043.45.

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