>Spot gold steady, dollar provides support

London - Spot gold prices traded steady in Europe Monday and traders and analysts said as long as equity markets continue to inspire more confidence in the broader markets gold prices will likely drift.

At 0931 GMT, spot gold was trading at $913.20 a troy ounce, down 0.3% from Friday's close. Spot silver was at $13.88/oz, down 0.7%. Spot platinum was at $1,134.50/oz, down 1%. Spot palladium was at $237/oz, down 0.6%.

"Gold prices will struggle to make a convincing move higher if equities remain bullish," said Mitsubishi analyst Tom Kendall.

In the broader market, European stocks traded down and oil prices were lower. Lower oil prices fed into broader commodity weakness, Kendall said.

A weaker U.S. dollar is providing some support Monday, but investor demand has dissipated with exchange traded fund holdings remaining mostly unchanged. Kendall said in the short-term, gold prices will likely trade sideways to lower.

Gold holding in the SPDR Gold Trust ETF, listed in New York, were again unchanged at 1,104.09 metric tons, and moved only marginally since April 23.

On the technical charts, a close above $919/oz and $920/oz could inspire some buying, Kendall said.

Overall, recent price moves indicate market participants are uncertain about price direction, said Standard Bank. The market's uncertainty over its next direction is illustrated by falling volumes on COMEX and the liquidation of long speculative positions, the bank said.

Gold price dips should be viewed as a buying opportunity for now as long as $902.6/oz holds as support, said FuturesTechs analysts. "We'll switch to short-term neutrality if this level breaks," FuturesTechs said.

Spot gold prices down slightly, quiet trade

London - Spot gold prices are trading down slightly in a quiet market, says Mitsubishi analyst Tom Kendall. "Gold prices will struggle to make a convincing move higher if equities remain bullish," Kendall says. Adds that a weaker dollar is providing some support Monday, but investor demand has dissipated with exchange traded fund holdings remaining mostly unchanged. Says in the short-term, gold prices will likely trade-sideways-to-lower. Spot gold is trading at $913.50/oz, -0.3% from Friday's close.

Asia spot gold steady, weak dollar helps

Sydney - Spot gold prices were steady in Asia Monday, reacting to a weaker dollar, but overall activity was quiet, traders and analysts said.

At 0656 GMT, gold traded at $915.75 a troy ounce, down 45 cents on the New York close.

Better-than-expected U.S. non-farm payroll data Friday boosted equity markets and pared some of gold's gains, but prices held up relatively well.

While waning risk aversion on the back of signs of the U.S. economy bottoming out should clip gold, it appears to have a stronger impact on the dollar, which in turn is helping gold, said Phillip Futures Analyst Adrian Koh.

"I think the argument that concerns for rising inflation are also driving gold is premature. The market is still focused on the economy, and excess liquidity isn't going to hit for another two years down the road," Koh said.

Kitco Analyst Jon Nadler said inflation risk continues to be "practically nil at the moment. One does not come out of a deflation of this size by immediately flipping over into a highly inflationary environment. Here, and now, at best, we might have an absence of deflation."

Gold prices have shown "impressive resilience" in the past few weeks given lack of exchange traded fund buying and a rangebound dollar, Deutsche Bank said in a note.

Gold's outlook would depend on direction for the dollar. "We have argued for some time that we believe risks are more skewed to U.S. dollar weakness, which may be triggered by a relapse in global equity markets," Deutsche Bank said.

Gold holding in the SPDR Gold Trust ETF, listed in New York, were again unchanged at 1,104.09 metric tons, and moved only marginally since April 23.

At 0652 GMT, spot silver was down 2 cents at $13.97/oz. Platinum was down $5.50 at $1,141.50/oz and palladium was unchanged at $239.00/oz.

On Tocom, April 2010 gold futures were down Y13 at Y2,916 a gram, while platinum was down Y52 at Y3,633/gram.

Source: COMMODITIESCONTROL