950825

European precious metals

hold steady as

silver stocks rise

LONDON: Precious metals prices held steady on Friday despite speculators selling silver on suspicion that the metal's recent tight supply was easing, dealers said.

But they said there was little likelihood that the markets would put pressure on either end of their well-established ranges before the holiday weekend in London and Hong Kong.

"The sector is fairly quiet but silver is looking vulnerable after stalling yesterday," one bullion dealer said.

Gold closed at $383 per ounce after $383.55 on Thursday but silver finished unchanged at $5.61.

Platinum was barely changed at $431.10 and palladium was about $1.75 lower at $148.50.

Modest rises in New York Comex warehouse silver stocks during the past few days suggested a turnaround after stocks fell 25 million ounces late last week, leaving dealers nervous and anxious to hold silver.

"The small stock rises have helped to alleviate fears of the supply tightness, though they (stocks) are still very low," one dealer said.

That raised the possibility of more of silver's many speculative holders deciding the upside was gone and cashing their positions, dealers said.

Even so, silver was still the market leader and showed little sign of ducking to significantly lower levels having wandered close to $5.55 early on Friday, they said.

Gold did little more than take its cue from silver.

The platinum market was seeing some buying on fears of an interruption to supply due to a strike at Impala's Springs refinery in South Africa.

"Now that the market has perked up that looks positive," a dealer said.-Reuter