Singapore (Platts)--11Jul2007

The spot gold price failed to hold onto the upward trend from Wednesday
and slipped in the morning trading session in Hong Kong on Thursday.
     Gold opened at $661.60-662.10/oz on Thursday, down from $664.80-665.30/oz
at the end of the afternoon trading session on Wednesday.
     "Gold dipped during the New York trading session on Wednesday on a
rebound in the US dollar. The weaker oil price also exerted downward pressure
on the gold price. Trade in general was fairly slow moving and (gold) was
range trading within $5," one trader said. 
     Another trader concurred, adding that the US dollar fell in early trade
on Wednesday on concerns about US subprime mortgages, and opened lower in New
York at Yen 121.54 from Yen 122 at Tuesday's close while the euro rose to
$1.3756 from $1.3726. The US dollar then rebounded modestly against the yen
on short covering, and closed at Yen 122 and $1.3758 per euro. 
     He also added that August gold closed $2.30 lower at $662.10/oz on
profit-taking and August crude oil closed 25 cents lower at $72.56/bbl on a
decline in gasoline prices during New York trade. 
     "Gold was hovering around the $661/oz level the whole quiet Asia
morning," the first trader said. He added that the buying interest remained
weak as a firm direction in the gold price remained lacking. "Fund managers
continued to keep their funds in the equity market on the back of the current
rangebound gold price," he said.
     The second trader said spot gold may test resistance at $666/oz where a
breach would shift focus to $672/oz. He, however, added that buying can be
considered on dips towards $658/oz with stops at $654/oz. 
     Some key economic indicators due later Thursday include Q1 Eurozone GDP,
May Eurozone industrial production, May Canada trade balance, US jobless
claims for the week ended July 7, and May US trade balance.     
     Meanwhile, despite a fall in the spot gold price, gold futures trading on
the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose Yen 5-10(4-8 cents)/g for August 2007-June
2008 contracts at the end of the Thursday morning session, settling at Yen
2,604-2,630/g. Turnover totaled 16,256 contracts Thursday, down sharply from
29,206 contracts Wednesday, indicating a quiet morning trading session at
TOCOM.