Gold holds steady

April 13, 2011 - 0:0

LONDON (WSJ) —The spot price of gold was little changed, as traders and analysts continued to call for more gains.

Ahead of the New York day, spot gold traded at $1,461 a troy ounce, down $2.20, or 0.1% and more than $15 below Monday's record high of $1,476.37/oz.
""Both silver and gold overheated at the end of last week amid fresh investor inflows, largely driven by renewed inflation concerns in the eurozone as well as persistent weakness in the greenback,"" said VTB analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
But while prices have cooled somewhat since Monday's fresh highs, ""momentum remains to the upside with the short-term uptrend intact,"" he added.
Gold's slightly lower price should also attract some buying from the jewelry sector, which has been holding out for bargains amid the yellow metal's record-breaking rally, analysts said.
And despite lagging behind silver so far this year, gold should outperform the commodities this quarter, supported by continued geopolitical uncertainty and inflation expectations in both emerging and development markets, Swiss bank UBS said in a quarterly research note.
""As the world economy enters a soft patch and as the fiscal spotlight stretches to include the U.S., this will be a catalyst for higher gold prices,"" analysts at the bank said. They forecast gold prices will average $1,500 an ounce this year, just short of the $1,550 an ounce previously forecast.
Silver held firmer ground Tuesday, but failed to move back into Monday's record-breaking territory. It was up 33 cents, or 0.8%, at $40.55 an ounce, more than $1 below Monday's 31-year high of $41.96.
Spot platinum was off $1, or 0.1%, at $1,778 an ounce, while spot palladium was up $1, or 0.1%, at $777 an ounce.