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Gold weaker, silver

firm in New York

NEW YORK: Comex gold settled barely weaker in thin trade, after finding support during an early retest of last Friday's three-week low.

The market drifted for the remainder of the session inside a narrow range, with several traders expecting further rangebound consolidation in the near term after last week's volatility and ahead of the Passover and Easter holidays.

June gold settled $0.70 lower at $397.70, traded from $398.10 to $396.90, a range set early. Volume was modest at an estimated 22,000 lots, down from Friday's official 46,396.

Dealers quoted bullion at $394.70/$395.00.

One cash trader said the market appeared to be finding scale-down physical offtake at spot prices in the $393 to $394.50 area, and this was lending support to prices.

Producer selling during a modest rally one week ago, however, was seen weighing on sentiment.

Some traders were encouraged by Friday's open interest data, released this morning, which showed a sharp drop of 8,452 lots to 195,456. The data suggested that many weak speculative long positions taken during the week-ago rally had been shaken out. COMEX silver ends rangebound day barely firmer

SILVER

NEW YORK: Comex silver settled barely firmer in rangebound trade, continuing to consolidate after last Thursday's selloff, traders said.

May silver ended 1.0 cent firmer at $5.55 an ounce, traded narrowly from $5.56 to $5.515. Volume was very light at an estimated 9,000 lots, down from Friday's modest 14,063.

The market has managed for the past three sessions to hold above support at $5.48, a three-week low hit last Thursday.

COMEX silver warehouse stocks fell Monday for the ninth consecutive session, dropping 682,351 ounces to 139,058,530.

While the steady decline in stocks was seen by several traders as supportive for prices, they remained wary, recalling instances in the past in which metal was temporarily shifted to off-exchange vaults in order to create the appearance of tightness in supplies.

PLATINUM

NEW YORK: NYMEX platinum settled slightly firmer, after managing to bounce from a three-month low hit early in the session.

Some traders expressed optimism that the market may be attempting to build a base after steep declines late last week, with one floor source noting what appeared to be fund short covering helping the market stabilize today.

Friday's open interest data, released this morning, showed a jump of 2,297 lots to 26,269, adding credence to traders' comments Friday that funds were shorting the market rather than simply liquidating long positions.

July platinum settled $1.00 firmer at $410.30 an ounce, traded from $411.30 to $407.00, the contract's lowest since Jan 2. The premium to June gold widened modestly by $1.70 to $12.60, after falling sharply last Thursday and Friday.

Today's volume was estimated at 4,690 lots, down from Friday's very heavy 10,050.

June palladium settled $1.90 higher at $142.75 an ounce.-Reuter