Tokyo - Gold eased on Monday but stayed well above one-week lows hit the previous business day, as Dubai debt default fears kept intact bullion's safe-haven appeal.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,168.45 per ounce as of 0003 GMT, compared to New York's notional close of $1,176.70. Bullion hit a low of $1,136.80 an ounce on Friday, the lowest since November 20.
* Dubai said on Wednesday two flagship firms planned to delay repaying billions of dollars in debt, and renewed credit fears initially forced investors to heavily sell gold and raise cash to cover losses in equities as well as oil and other commodities.
* Bullion rose to a record high of $1,194.90 last Thursday on expectations that central banks in emerging countries will keep buying bullion from the International Monetary Fund.
* U.S. gold futures for December delivery eased 0.5 percent to $1,169.20 per ounce, compared to $1,174.20 an ounce in the COMEX division of the NYMEX.
* Other precious metals also bounced from lows hit on Friday. Silver was at $18.19 an ounce on Monday, after hitting a two-week low of $17.66 an ounce the previous business day. On Friday, platinum and palladium touched one-week lows of $1,418.50 and $351 an ounce respectively.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,127.860 tonnes as of November 27, unchanged from the previous business day on November 25. US markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
MARKET NEWS
* US stocks fell more than 1 percent in a truncated session on Friday as a possible debt default by a Dubai state-owned conglomerate led to fresh concerns about the global financial system.
* The dollar eased on Monday after the United Arab Emirates' central bank set up an emergency facility on Sunday to support bank liquidity in the first policy response to Dubai's debt woes. The dollar rose against the euro and a basket of major currencies on Friday as fears of a possible Dubai debt default boosted the greenback's safe-haven appeal. - Reuters
