SINGAPORE: Gold held near an 11-month high on Wednesday, as uncertainty over Spain's bailout plan kept investors on their toes while they wait for a key US job market report to shed light on the effectiveness of the latest stimulus measures.
Gold barely moved from the end of last week after posting a fourth straight month of gains in September, spurred by the aggressive stimulus measures of central banks, including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.
But the momentum has fizzled in the absence of a fresh catalyst. Investors are eyeing Spain, now the centre of the euro zone debt crisis, after the country's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denied a Reuters report of an imminent request for bailout.
"The real challenges will again drive the market," said Jeremy Friesen, a commodity strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.
"We are going through a bit of a consolidation period until we see what happens. My suspicion is that we'll get more monetary policy responses from other central banks as the Fed programme kicks off and the ECB programme starts, probably by the end of this month. That's bullish for commodities like gold."
Gold is forecast to reach an average of $1,800 an ounce in the first quarter of 2013 as a result, he added.
Spot gold was little changed at $1,772.69 an ounce by 0624 GMT. It hit $1,791.20 this week, its highest level since last November.
US gold traded nearly flat at $1,775.10.
Data from China and Australia showing further weakness in those economies added to expectations for more action from central banks, after Australia's surprise rate cut on Tuesday.
The dollar index rose as the global outlook darkened, weighing on commodities priced in the greenback by making them more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.
Technical analysis suggested that spot gold could fall to $1,737.50 an ounce during the day, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.
Trade was thin as key player China is closed for the entire week for a public holiday, and investors turned cautious ahead of the US job market report due on Friday.
Job growth is likely to have improved only slightly in September as businesses remained cautious out of fear a sharp tightening of the government's budget could deliver a big blow to the economic recovery early next year.
Elsewhere in Asia, the sale of physical material from Indonesia ebbed after rupiah-priced gold hit a record high earlier in the week, dealers said.
"There was much selling earlier and now it's drying up slowly," said a dealer based in Singapore.
Anglo American Platinum, the world's top platinum producer, warned on Tuesday that security had worsened at its strike-hit South African mines as several thousand gold miners rallied over pay in the dispute-plagued industry.
Strong US auto sales data helped platinum group metals, widely used in making autocatalysts. Sales last month posted their best showing in 4-1/2 years, helped by cheap financing, rising consumer confidence and a major rebound by Toyota Motor Corp.
Spot platinum was little changed at $1,667.99 and spot palladium slipped 0.6 percent to $643.10.
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