US MIDDAY: gold flat

Gold gyrated around unchanged on Monday, as lingering uncertainty about indebted eurozone countries pressured equity markets along with gold, offsetting the positive influence of a weaker dollar. Silver was weak, down 3 percent at one point, as funds continued to liquidate bullish bets and US photography company Eastman Kodak, a top industrial consumer of silver, said it is adjusting its film products pricing policies in response to the "unprecedented rise" in silver prices.
Precious metals investors were eagerly awaiting regulatory filings by hedge fund managers and institutional investments due later on Monday, which will show changes in precious metal holdings in their portfolios including during the first quarter. "Those problems around the eurozone are still there, and they might re-emerge even this week," said Adam Klopfenstein, senior market strategist of MF Global's Lind-Waldock unit.
Spot gold gained 54 cents to $1,493.79 an ounce by 1:06 pm EDT (1706 GMT). Bullion had hit a record high of $1,575.79 on May 2. US gold was flat at $1,493.60 an ounce. Euro zone finance ministers meeting in Brussels are expected to back a bailout for Portugal and tell Greece it must deliver on agreed fiscal and privatisation targets if it wants new emergency funding next year.
Silver fell 3.1 percent to $34.18 an ounce. The industrial precious metal has crashed about 30 percent since hitting a record high of $49.51 on April 28. A wave of hot money from funds fuelled a rally in which the silver price nearly doubled over four months. Managed money continued to liquidate positions even after US regulatory data showed big hedge funds and speculators cut their bullish bets in the silver futures market in the week through May 10.
On industrial demand, Eastman Kodak said that a majority of the silver contained within its colour film and paper products was removed during processing, allowing the company to use a variable pricing strategy. Silver is a key raw material for Kodak. Precious metal refiner Johnson Matthey said on Monday that palladium attracted so much speculative money last year that it would struggle to lure enough new investors to repeat the 2011 rally. Palladium gained 1.1 percent to $715.60 an ounce. Platinum was up 19 cents at $1,756.24 an ounce.