Gold slides lower



LONDON - Gold eased slightly in Europe on Thursday as the U.S. dollar firmed a little against the euro ahead of a European Central Bank policy decision later in the session, curbing interest in the metal as an alternative asset.

Traders are eyeing a raft of U.S. data due later, including retail sales, business inventories and import/export prices for December and weekly jobless claims for clues as to the dollar's next direction.

Spot gold was bid at $1,136.00 an ounce at 1005 GMT, against $1,137.60 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for February delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange eased 60 cents to $1,136.20.

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Among other precious metals,


SILVER was bid at $18.48 an ounce against $18.59.

PLATINUM was at $1,577 an ounce versus $1,574, and

PALLADIUM at $429 versus $421.50.

The metals are being underpinned by fresh investment interest after the launch of new platinum- and palladium-based exchange-traded funds in New York last Friday. The ETFs added 170,000 ounces of metal in their first two trading sessions.

Interest in platinum group metals-backed ETFs could detract attention from similar products backed by gold, like the SPDR fund, Goldman Sachs said in a research note.

"The gold ETFs may face increased competition for investor demand in 2010 from the introduction of both the platinum (PPLT) and palladium (PALL) PGM ETFs," the bank said.

"While these new physical-backed ETFs present a downside risk to gold-ETF demand and gold prices, they represent an upside risk to platinum prices, and we continue to recommend a long position in platinum as a 'gold-plus' trade," it added.

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Oil Rises

Oil prices rose in Europe on Thursday, climbing back above $80 a barrel as traders took advantage of the previous session's drop to 2010 lows as a chance to cover short positions.

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Copper,Nickel.Aluminum,Lead,Zinc

http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/

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