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Asian gold lower in afternoon, PGMs steady

HONG KONG: Asian spot gold edged lower in quiet holiday trading on Friday after currency-linked Australian selling, but it could rise after producers' hedging cutbacks boosted sentiment.

Gold bullion was quoted at US$314.50/315.50 per ounce late on Friday compared to New York's previous close at US$315.55/316.55 on Thursday.

Spot palladium was unchanged at US$575.00/585.00 an ounce and platinum was also steady at US$540.00/550.00 an ounce.

Trading activity was slow due to a Tokyo holiday.

After overnight gains, gold opened slightly lower after Australian selling prompted by weakness in the Australian dollar, which dipped to a two-week low.

"Selling from Australia depressed the price to US$313.00/314.00, but on the downside the market was seeing very good support, with professional buying," a trader said.

He said physical selling from Singapore also held back gold.

The outlook was for gold to test US$320 later on.

Traders said a reassessment by major producers of hedging strategies signalled less selling pressure in future and helped to give a positive tone to the gold market.

Traders said they were watching developments surrounding troubled Ashanti Goldfields Co Ltd amid speculation it was buying back gold hedges.

Spot silver was quoted at US$5.35/38 an ounce, unchanged from the closing price in New York on Thursday.

Local tael gold was quoted HK$48 up at HK$2,906.

The carry over charge at the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society was -3, up from its previous fix at -4.-Reuters