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Asian gold higher in afternoon, platinum steady

HONG KONG: Asian spot gold rose on Friday on physical buying and Japanese short-covering and platinum held steady above nine-week lows.

Gold bullion was quoted at US$281.70/282.20 per ounce late on Friday compared to New York's previous close at US$281.00/50 on Thursday.

Gold was likely to trade in a US$279-283 range in the medium term, traders said.

"In the morning session we saw light physical buying, and in the afternoon there was short-covering from Japan as TOCOM closed," a trader said.

Platinum will likely remain above US$400 an ounce until the resumption of Russian exports has been confirmed, Japanese traders said.

Official clearance for exports was given on Thursday, but platinum will likely stay above US$400 or may even rise again until the metal is shipped, a trader in Tokyo said.

Platinum fell to nine-week lows of US$405 overnight after legislation to unblock Russian exports of platinum group metals became effective.

Platinum was quoted at US$412.50/417.50 late on Friday and palladium was US$432.00/437.00.

Yen-based platinum futures ended lower in Tokyo but palladium and gold futures finished higher.

Spot silver was quoted at US$5.13/16 an ounce after closing in New York at US$5.11/14 on Thursday.

Local tael gold was quoted HK$11 up at HK$2,617.

The carry over charge at the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society was -1, up from its previous fix at -3.-Reuters