GOLD NEWS UPDATES 12.07.2012:- SINGAPORE: Spot gold firmed on Wednesday after posting its biggest one-day decline since late June, but gains are expected to be reined in as the dollar continues to outstrip bullion as the preferred destination for safety amid a grim economic outlook.
Gold has been under pressure with the greenback rising 2 percent against a basket of currencies so far this month, in contrast to a 3-percent drop in the euro as the bloc is still deep in its struggle to contain an intractable debt crisis.
In addition, an uncertainty over whether the US Federal Reserve will launch a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) is underpinning the dollar, keeping gold bulls on edge.
"Gold will probably remain rangebound. Without QE3, the pressure on the upside stays," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong, adding he saw it trading in a range of $1,550-$1,600.
Fung said there was fresh buying interest from China on gold's slide overnight and that most investors were likely to stick to a buy-on-dips and sell-on-the-rally strategy as prices drift without a clear direction.
Spot gold gained half a percent to $1,575.74 an ounce by 0635 GMT, after losing 1.4 percent on Tuesday when it touched $1,563.89 -- lowest since June 29.
The US gold futures contract for August delivery edged down 0.2 percent to $1,576.10.
The correlation between the dollar and gold stood at -0.56, indicating the strongest inverse correlation in nearly two months. A reading of -1 suggests a perfect inverse correlation in which one asset rises and the other declines.
Technical analysis suggests spot gold could drop to $1,553 an ounce during the day, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.
The physical market was subdued. Some bargain hunters booked materials after prices tumbled in the previous session.
"We saw some buying from India, as well as locally, after prices dropped some $30 yesterday," said Peter Tse, director at ScotiaMocatta in Hong Kong.
A weak euro restricted gains in gold prices. The single currency struggled near a two-year low, as investors await verdict from Germany's top court on whether Europe's new bailout scheme and budget rules are compatible with national law.
Euro zone finance ministers failed to agree on a final figure for aid to ailing Spanish banks, although the European Union has set aside 30 billion euros to be available by the end of July if there is an urgent need.
Other precious metals staged a slight rebound. Spot silver rose 0.6 percent to $26.99 after falling 2 percent in the previous session.
Spot platinum pulled back from a 1-1/2-week low of $1,415.33 hit in the previous session to trade at $1,422.50