London : Gold fell towards $1,130 per ounce yesterday as a rising dollar made the metal costlier for non-US investors, but palladium hit an 18-month high as traders continued to see strong investment demand.
Currency markets were not moving in gold's favour as the euro fell versus the dollar, with struggles in the Greek economy fuelling concerns about weakness in the euro zone.
"We really need some dollar weakness to push gold higher," said Walter de Wet, an analyst at Standard Bank. "As long as the Greece problems remain headline news we're not going to see that weakness just yet."
Spot gold stood at $1,133.70 per ounce at 1338 GMT, compared with $1,142.15 quoted late in New York on Thursday.
US gold futures for February delivery were at $1,132.60 an ounce, versus Thursday's close of $1,143.00 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On the regulation front, gold market participants were fairly sanguine about the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposal of new measures to rein in speculation in energy and commodity trading, especially oil.
Separately, the London Metal Exchange said it will offer clearing for gold over-the-counter (OTC) contracts in London by the second half of 2010.
Palladium and platinum were supported by strong investment demand from the launch of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) backed by the metals in New York.
A US subsidiary of London's ETF Securities launched the products a week ago.
Palladium traded at $446.00 versus $441.50. The metal earlier hit $451 per ounce, its highest since mid-July 2008.
Spot platinum stood at $1,598.00 after rising as high as $1,618.50, and compared with $1,607.00 in New York.
Silver traded at $18.49 from $18.64.
