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Asian gold higher in afternoon on short-covering

HONG KONG: Asian spot gold rose on Wednesday after short-covering in quiet trade and was seen staying in a range below US$295.

Gold bullion was quoted at US$292.25/293.00 per ounce late on Wednesday compared to New York's previous close at US$291.90/292.90 on Tuesday.

Gold opened higher in Asia, rising to US$292.75/293.50 and extending overnight gains in New York on short-covering, traders said.

Gold's on Tuesday gains were also helped by the sharp fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of US stocks, which plummetted more than 300 points and led some investors to buy gold, but the boost was temporary, traders said.

"We saw some good offering of gold at the US$293.50 level, which brought the price down to US$292.25," a trader said. There was good resistance at US$295, he added.

The outlook was for gold to stay within a US$288-295 range in the short term.

In Tokyo gold futures ended higher with the yen's weaker tone against the dollar.

Spot silver was quoted at US$5.07/10 an ounce after closing in New York at US$5.07/09 on Tuesday.

Local tael gold was quoted HK$42 up at HK$2,712.

The carry over charge at the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society was -3, up from its previous fix at -5.-Reuters