RTRS: Gold little changed, pressured by firm dollar
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold was little changed around $1,050 per ounce on Monday, pressured by a firmer dollar, as the precious metal took a breather and consolidated gains from last week's fast paced climb to historic levels.
Last Wednesday, spot gold soared to an all-time high of $1,070.40 an ounce, while New York gold futures hit a record peak of $1,072 as the greenback's weakness spurred buying of gold, which became less expensive for holders of other currencies.
The precious metal is also often bought as a hedge against a depreciation in the U.S. currency.
"The dollar is recovering a touch against the euro, and that is putting pressure on gold," said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Tokyo's Fujitomi Co Ltd.
He said funds were shifting from gold to the crude oil and stock markets, as the precious metal has lost some of its attraction as a inflation hedge and as a safe-haven.
Gold was at $1,050.70 per ounce at 0249 GMT, down 0.01 percent after earlier rising to $1,055.20.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery were at $1,050.90 per ounce, down about 0.1 percent.
The euro was off a 14-month high against the dollar and a two-month high against the yen as investors trimmed long positions on caution over what euro zone finance ministers might say about its recent strength.
"My view is that gold's probably going to consolidate around current levels," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip Futures.
Koh said that gold was quiet and that he was waiting for further direction for the market.
Fujitomi's Saito also believes gold will trade around $1,050 for the time being until crude oil, which has not been rising at the same pace as gold, catches up.
U.S. crude oil steadied after hitting a 12-month high above $79 a barrel on Monday.
It is still down over 40 percent from its record high above $147 marked in July 2008.
"I think gold is waiting for crude oil to top $80 before rising again on inflation fears," Saito said.
Saito added that the rise in speculative net long positions to a record last week was also putting pressure on the gold market.
Noncommercial net longs in U.S. gold futures rose to an all-time high of 253,955 lots in the week to October 13, up 6 percent from a week ago, data published on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,109.314 tonnes as of October 16, unchanged from the previous business day.
