>Gold drifts higher, looks for fresh cues (GOLD)

London - Gold drifted higher Monday in a quiet start to the week, as market participants awaited fresh cues for direction.

Dollar weakness and buying by Japanese retail investors helped firm prices, although market participants expected the metal to range trade in the short-term.

At 1033 GMT, spot gold was trading at $952.80 per troy ounce, up 0.15% on the day.

Spot silver was 1% higher at $13.86/oz.

Spot platinum rose 0.7% to $1,120/oz, and spot palladium was up 0.7% at $206/oz.

"We're looking for some new news," said Michael Kempinski, a precious metals trader at Commerzbank in Luxembourg.

Without a strong momentum of its own, gold will likely react to equity markets, the dollar and news stories, traders said.

Key data points for precious metals Monday will be U.S. home sales figures for February and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's unveiling of a banking plan for toxic assets.

Traders said a rally in stock markets on the back of Geithner's plan may not weigh on gold, even though the plan could instill confidence among investors.

Fears of inflation should pick up any slack from a decline in safe haven demand for gold, said Kempinski.

A London-based trader also said Geithner's plan won't quell investors' worries about the banking industry and financial markets.

"You need to see a real recovery before you see gold (negatively) correlating with equity markets," the trader said.

One sign that safe haven demand for gold remains steady is the recovery in demand for gold exchange-traded funds. Gold holdings in the world's largest gold ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, rose 11.31 metric tons Friday to a record high of 1,114.60 tons.

Traders said they expected gold to trade in a range between $940-$975/oz in the short-term.

Source: COMMODITYCONTROL