Spot gold pares losses on Shanghai arbitrage buying

SINGAPORE: Gold pared most of its 1-percent loss on Monday, buoyed by arbitrage trade from participants in the Shanghai market, after a revived risk appetite led investors out of bullion to riskier assets.

Spot gold fell as much as 1.1 percent to $1,727.51 an ounce earlier in the day, but has reclaimed most of the lost territory.

"We see strong buying interest from Shanghai after the markets opened there," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.

The sharp decline in global spot prices opened up an arbitrage window for Chinese market participants. The popular gold forward contract (T+D) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange opened at 360.75 yuan a gram, or $1,755.76 an ounce.

The most-active Shanghai gold futures stood at 362.14 yuan a gram, equivalent to $1,762.53 an ounce.

Spot gold stood little changed at $1,744.21 an ounce by 0253 GMT, after two consecutive sessions of losses. US gold edged up 0.3 percent to $1,747.

"There is strong support at $1,720 level, although on the upside gold is still facing some liquidation pressure," said Fung, adding that gold is likely to trade sideways between $1,720 and $1,750 in the short term.

Technical analysis suggested that gold could rebound to $1,768 an ounce, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Gold rallied to a record high of $1,813.79 last Thursday, as anxious investors fled riskier assets to seek a safe haven in bullion in the aftermath of the US credit downgrade.

The panic in the global financial markets has since eased, and some investors returned to the battered stock market to look for bargains.

Speculators scaled back their bullish bets in US gold futures and options last week, even as gold hit a record high of $1,813.79 on Aug. 11.

The gold market is waiting for US data on Monday that will show changes in investment holdings by hedge funds and institutional investors during the second quarter.

Eyes will be on John Paulson, the biggest holder of the SPDR Gold Trust -- the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund.

Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust dropped 1 percent on the day to 1,260.173 tonnes by Aug. 12, the lowest in a week and half.

Spot platinum gained 0.2 percent to $1,796.74 an ounce, extending its winning streak to the fifth consecutive session, its best run since early January.

"The gold-platinum spread has gone from a premium in the middle of last week to a discount of about $50," said a Singapore-based trader, "If and when we get improving sentiment, we should see that discount expanding to maybe $150."

Ebbing panic in the markets is likely to help other industrial metals, such as silver and palladium, he added.

Spot silver edged down 0.2 percent to $38.92.

Spot palladium rose 1.6 percent to $754.79, on course for a third day of climb.

Precious metals price.

Copyright Reuters, 2011