Gold fell on Tuesday, despite a weak US dollar, as investors and speculators booked profits after pushing the price to it's highest in nearly four weeks around $625 an ounce.
Spot gold dropped to $619.50/620.50 an ounce from $622.20/623.20 late in London on Monday, when it gained more than 2 percent to hit a high of $625.05 because of firm crude oil prices.
Resistance levels were pegged around $626 and $630 an ounce and dealers expected volatile trade ahead with US markets closed on Monday and Tuesday for the Independence Day holiday.
Tokyo gold futures reserved on Monday's gains. The benchmark June 2007 gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 3 yen per gram to 2,309 yen ($20.13). The contract ended up by its daily 60-yen limit at 2,313 yen as investors shifted back to gold.
"It's just some Japanese selling. Basically, we are still stuck in a range," said Peter TES, a dealer at Scotia Mocatta in Hong Kong. "Without the US market, without ACCESS (electronic trading), people are just playing around.
I think $600 and $630 will be the range until the payroll figure later on Friday," he said. The euro hovered near a one-month high against the dollar and a record peak versus the yen after data suggested the prospects for higher interest rates have lessened in the United States but risen in the euro zone. The euro was little changed at $1.2800 after hitting a high of $1.2823 on Monday, it's highest since June 7.
The dollar inched down to 114.60 yen from around 114.70 yen. Dealers awaited US June non-farm payrolls report on Friday. Physical dealers saw some buying as gold prices retreated but overall trading was muted. "There's light buying. That's about it. There could be some profit taking as well because the price didn't move up much higher," said a dealer in Singapore, referring to gold's failure to breach $626 an ounce.
In other precious metals, platinum fell to $1,228/1,233 an ounce from $1,242/1,247 in London. Sister metal palladium eased to $322/327 an ounce from $325/329. Silver was steady at $11.17/11.25 an ounce.
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