SINGAPORE, Oct 22 - Gold was trading a tad lower in Asian afternoon trade on Wednesday following some selling by Japanese investors as the dollar steadied against the yen and players waited for more leads from Europe. "There was light selling by Japanese investors but some people are bullish because COMEX closed above $380 last night," one bullion dealer in Hong Kong said. Fund buying, overseas physical demand and a softer dollar propelled COMEX gold above the $380 an ounce threshold for the first time in 18 days. December gold <0#GC:> closed up $7.60 at $382.00 an ounce. At 0424 GMT, spot gold was quoted at $380.10/380.60 an ounce compared with New York's last quoted level of $380.50/381.25. London bullion dealers fixed Tuesday's reference price at $378.20.
Dealers pegged new resistance levels at $383 and $385 but the market was cautious as speculators still had hefty long positions on COMEX, making the precious metal vulnerable to another sell off. Key support was pegged at $375. "The currency market doesn't move much, so most people just wait for the Europeans to enter the market later today. If there are some movements in euro, then gold will follow suit," said the Hong Kong dealer. The dollar steadied against the yen and the euro as the market looked around for new factors after the communique adopted at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum made no reference to currency policies. The greenback was trading at 109.48/51 yen , flat from late New York levels. The euro was steady at $1.1669/72 versus $1.1670/76.
In other precious metal market, platinum set a new 23-year high at $739.00 and was last quoted at $738.00/743.00. That compared with New York's last quoted level of $735.00/740.00. The metal, used in jewellery and automobile catalytic converters, has been rallying on worries that South Africa's giant Anglo American Platinum, hit by the strength of the rand, will not meet its target for expanding production. The Tokyo gold futures tracked New York's gains with the benchmark August 2004 gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange up 18 yen per gram at 1,337 yen. Silver was quoted at $5.04/5.06 an ounce and palladium at $196.00/203.00 an ounce.//