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PRECIOUS-Gold on track for biggest weekly gain in five

Fri May 19, 2017

* Spot gold expected to test resistance at $1,255/oz -
technicals
* Palladium on track for worst weekly fall since late
January
* Platinum, silver heading for biggest weekly gain in five
weeks

(Updates prices)
By Vijaykumar Vedala
May 19 Gold prices edged up on Friday and were
on track for their biggest weekly gain since mid-April as the
dollar eased amid lingering political turbulence in the United
States.
In the previous session, the metal snapped a five-day rally
and slipped 1.1 percent on profit-taking, its biggest one-day
percentage drop since May 3.
"The gold rally was overdone and there was a correction on
Thursday. But perhaps, it came down a little too much from the
highs of yesterday. So people started to pick up again," said
Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central
in Singapore.
"People are still wary of geo-political risks and not
selling the safe-haven asset yet."
Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,250.96 per ounce,
as of 0819 GMT. It climbed 1.9 percent for the week and is set
for its biggest weekly rise in five.
U.S. gold futures slipped 0.1 percent to $1,251.10
an ounce.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback
against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.3 percent
on Friday after gaining some reprieve overnight, helped by solid
U.S. economic data.
New applications for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell
last week and the number of Americans on unemployment rolls
tumbled to a 28-1/2-year low, pointing to rapidly shrinking
labor market slack.
"Safe-haven buying has provided strong support to gold
prices over the past six months," ANZ said in a note.
"However, rising geopolitical risks in the U.S. and
elsewhere are likely to propel prices even higher, despite the
spectre of a rate hike in the U.S. next month."
Investors will watch with renewed focus next week's
testimony to the Senate by former FBI Director James Comey.
Comey's firing by U.S. President Donald Trump last week set
off a political firestorm and culminated on Wednesday in the
Justice Department's appointment of a special counsel to probe
possible ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential
campaign.
Spot gold is expected to test resistance at $1,255
per ounce, as it has stabilised around support at $1,245,
according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.14 percent to 850.71
tonnes on Thursday.
Among other precious metals, palladium gained 0.5 pct
to $765.90 per ounce. The metal slipped 5 percent this week,
poised for its biggest weekly fall since late January.
Platinum slid 0.4 pct to $930.25 an ounce, while
silver climbed 0.9 pct to $16.69 an ounce.
The metals have gained about 1.7 percent and 1.4 percent for
the week respectively, and are on track to register their best
weekly growth since the week ended April 14.

http://www.reuters.com/article/global-precious-idUSL4N1IL1EA