By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold inched down to hover around $890, pausing from a rally late last week when it rose 5 percent on strong investment demand that is seen intact amid signs that the economic downturn will persist.
By 0436 GMT, spot gold was down nearly 1 percent at $890.60 an ounce against New York's notional close of $898.10.
On Friday, the precious metal reached record highs in both sterling and euro terms, signaling bullion's strength against not only the U.S. dollar, but currencies across the board.
"Gold is again attracting attention as a safe-haven and a good place to place your money," said Koji Suzuki, a senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd.
One sign of this came in news that the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, which rose to a new record of 832.57 tonnes of gold by January 23, was up 13.46 tonnes from 819.11 tonnes on January 22.
For details of gold holdings by the ETF listed in New York and also co-listed on other exchanges, click on:
http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
Changes in gold ETF holdings are closely watched by market participants because sharp inflows in gold ETFs could be a bullish signal as it shows longer-term retail investors are entering the market.
Activity in Asia was subdued, however, as many financial markets were closed on Monday to mark the Lunar New Year holiday, including China's stock, money and foreign exchange markets.
In one of the latest comments on the U.S. economy, President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, would not rule out on Sunday the chance that more money may be needed to stabilize the U.S. financial system as the deep recession swells banks' losses.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery inched down to $891.7 yen per ounce from $895.80, its settlement on Friday on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil fell on Monday, cutting into a 14 percent three-day gain as traders set aside the latest evidence of OPEC's production cuts to focus on forecasts for a deepening global economic downturn and the stronger dollar.
The dollar stayed close to a 23-year high against the sterling and a six-week high versus the euro both reached late last week, when dismal British and euro zone data led investors to shift money from European currencies to the greenback.
The euro slid 0.6 percent to $1.2896, while sterling fell 1.3 percent versus the dollar to $1.3623.
Gold's strong performance last week helped boost the benchmark December contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, which rose as high as 2,565 yen per gram, up 132 yen or over 5 percent, before drifting down to 2,562 yen at 0345 GMT. Continued...
TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold inched down to hover around $890, pausing from a rally late last week when it rose 5 percent on strong investment demand that is seen intact amid signs that the economic downturn will persist.
By 0436 GMT, spot gold was down nearly 1 percent at $890.60 an ounce against New York's notional close of $898.10.
On Friday, the precious metal reached record highs in both sterling and euro terms, signaling bullion's strength against not only the U.S. dollar, but currencies across the board.
"Gold is again attracting attention as a safe-haven and a good place to place your money," said Koji Suzuki, a senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd.
One sign of this came in news that the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, which rose to a new record of 832.57 tonnes of gold by January 23, was up 13.46 tonnes from 819.11 tonnes on January 22.
For details of gold holdings by the ETF listed in New York and also co-listed on other exchanges, click on:
http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
Changes in gold ETF holdings are closely watched by market participants because sharp inflows in gold ETFs could be a bullish signal as it shows longer-term retail investors are entering the market.
Activity in Asia was subdued, however, as many financial markets were closed on Monday to mark the Lunar New Year holiday, including China's stock, money and foreign exchange markets.
In one of the latest comments on the U.S. economy, President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, would not rule out on Sunday the chance that more money may be needed to stabilize the U.S. financial system as the deep recession swells banks' losses.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery inched down to $891.7 yen per ounce from $895.80, its settlement on Friday on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil fell on Monday, cutting into a 14 percent three-day gain as traders set aside the latest evidence of OPEC's production cuts to focus on forecasts for a deepening global economic downturn and the stronger dollar.
The dollar stayed close to a 23-year high against the sterling and a six-week high versus the euro both reached late last week, when dismal British and euro zone data led investors to shift money from European currencies to the greenback.
The euro slid 0.6 percent to $1.2896, while sterling fell 1.3 percent versus the dollar to $1.3623.
Gold's strong performance last week helped boost the benchmark December contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, which rose as high as 2,565 yen per gram, up 132 yen or over 5 percent, before drifting down to 2,562 yen at 0345 GMT. Continued...
