20000115

Comex gold, silver end up on squaring for MLK Day

NEW YORK: Gold and silver futures rose on Thursday, mostly on position adjustments ahead of a short session Friday before the U.S. three-day weekend for Martin Luther King Day on Monday, dealers said.

In addition, January Comex gold options roll off the books on Friday, but dealers said there was little related risk management noticeable in the futures or spot markets.

"Early this morning it absorbed a dose of selling and I suspect it's mostly book squaring," James Steel, analyst at Refco Inc, said of gold.

On Friday, trading in silver and gold futures and options on the Comex will end respectively. Nymex palladium shuts and platinum at 1210.

February gold rose $1.40 an ounce to settle at $285.10, moving between $282.90 and $285.90. Spot bullion last fetched $283.85/4.45, up from London's late fix at $282.10 and Wednesday's New York close at $282.30/80.

"It went up $1.50 pretty much all in one move and there is not much to comment on today," said Donald Eckert, global bullion risk manager at Chase Manhattan. "We have option expiration tomorrow for the Comex but it doesn't seem to be a particularly active month."

In gold, the $280 level has apparently been an attractive price point for bullion buyers. The yellow metal has been stranded for more than a week between $280 and $285.

Dealers said the market is reluctant to trade ahead of Britain's fourth 25-tonne gold reserve auction on January 25.

March silver rose 1.0 cent to $5.153 an ounce, recovering a bit after Wednesday's 5.2-cent drop. The range was $5.125 to $5.175. Spot bullion last fetched $5.10/13, compared to the fix at $5.09 and the previous close at $5.09/14.

Funds pushed silver down Wednesday, taking out support at 5.15 an ounce with the threat of Chinese central bank sales dangling over the market since last week.

Open interest from Wednesday rose 973 lots but provided little strong technical guidance. Active March open interest was only up 208 on indicated fresh selling, with May up 577 lots, mostly on rolling of longs from March, dealers said.

Traders will be watching Friday's CFTC Commitments of Traders data on Comex speculative positions to see how much the 26,058 contract longs seen as of two weeks ago has been reduced by silver's recent slippage.

March palladium fell $5.25 to $447.00 an ounce, backing off contract highs set early in the week on word that Russia, producer of two-thirds of world palladium supply, had offered the first spot metal of 2000 to Japanese buyers, dealers said.

Traders in Japan overnight said Almazjuvelirexport (Almaz), Russia's sole platinum group metals exporter, asked Japanese importers if they wanted to buy spot palladium based Zurich clearance.

Although it was the first time Almaz has presented new metal this year, some has been supplied under long-term contracts.

April platinum rose $2.50 an ounce to $404.90. -Reuters