London 10/01/2011 - Gold was steady in Monday morning business, boosted by fresh safe-haven buying as eurozone fears re-emerged and disappointing US economic data on Friday, although a fragile euro kept further advances in check. Spot gold - which slipped to its cheapest since November 26 at $1,352.88 per ounce on Friday before steadying in afternoon business - was last indicated at $1,370.07/1,370.87, $1.15 higher. On the charts, resistance is set at $1,382, while the 50-day moving average is $1,382.80 and support levels are found back at $1,361 and $1,351. "Prices are up this morning on the back of the re-emergence of concerns over the Eurozone's ability to handle its sovereign debt problems," broker Fairfax said. Reports this morning suggested that Portugal was being forced by other eurozone members to become the latest country to accept financial aid from the EU and IMF as its cost of borrowing continue to escalate, according to a senior eurozone source. Portuguese 10-year bond yields struck record highs at the tail-end of last week, while Spanish, Irish and Italian yields have also remained under sustained pressure in recent sessions. "The placement of longer term bonds in Portugal, Spain and Italy are likely to be in the spotlight this week," broker Commerzbank said. "Amid the continued uncertainty, gold should be in greater demand again." Safe-haven demand also carried over from Friday, after disappointing US non-farm payrolls data caused markets to reassess their views on the extent of the financial recovery there after mostly good data in recent weeks, analysts said - the latest release showed 103,000 jobs added, well below a forecast of 159,000. "The string of positive US economic data has weighed on gold prices recently... although the mixed payrolls data on Friday suggests there could still be some bumps in the US economy," broker ANZ said. The annual index re-weighting period has also caused experience severe choppiness over the past week, analysts said - gold shed some 4.7 percent in volatile conditions from a high of $1,424 last Monday to Friday's multi-week nadir. "Precious metals prices [are] somewhat impacted by index rebalancing which will continue into next week," Commerzbank said. On the data front, Sentix investor confidence numbers from the eurozone this morning stood out as the only notable release in European trading - for January, these came in at 10.6, below a forecast 11.9 but up from 9.7 previously. Overnight, the latest Chinese trade surplus came out less than expected at $13.1 billion, against a forecast $20.9 billion and suggesting a more balanced trade position. Although no further significant data is due for release, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet is due to speak later today. The euro maintained its weakness against the dollar, falling to a fresh low since September 14 at 1.2876 before recovering ground - it was last at 1.2931, up almost a quarter of a cent. In other precious metals, silver - which fell as low as $28.34 per ounce on Friday, its lowest since December 16 - was steadier on Monday morning and, at $28.79/28.84, was just three cents higher. Platinum was last at $1,734.50/1,739.50 per ounce, up 50 cents. Palladium traded down $2.50 at $748.50/753.50 per ounce. It had slumped to its cheapest since December 20 at $739.50 per ounce in the previous session. Overnight the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said that it expects the country's auto manufacturing and sales markets to rise 10-15 percent year-on-year in 2011. In 2010, Chinese automobile production rose 32.4 percent year-on-year to 18.3 million units, while sales climbed to 18.1 million, up 32.37 percent, CAAM said, confirming its position as the world's largest producer. Platinum group metals (PGMs) are used extensively in car building to filter out gas emissions. (Additional reporting by Hongmei Li. Editing by Barbara Stcherbatcheff)

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