PRECIOUS-Gold holds near $1,745 as Greece buys more time
08/02/2012 at 02:15
SINGAPORE, Feb 8 Reuters - Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday, after posting its biggest one-day rise in nearly two weeks in the previous session, while investors remained cautious as Greece again delayed making a decision on a bailout packageFUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold
* U.S. gold was nearly flat at $1,748.50
* Greek political parties delayed again on Tuesday making the tough choice of accepting painful reforms in return for a new international bailout to avoid a chaotic default, seemingly deaf to EU warnings that the euro zone can live without Athens. * Though hopes for a deal helped send the euro to an eight-week high against the dollar and lift commodities on Tuesday, risk remains that the negotiations might collapse
* Investors should be underweight equities while favouring "selected commodities" such as gold and oil due to the fragile state of the global economy and brewing geopolitical risks, said Mohamed El-Erian, CEO and co-chief investment officer of bond fund giant PIMCO
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click , or MARKET NEWS * U.S. stocks rose slightly on Tuesday, but with the outcome of discussions on a bailout package for Greece uncertain, investors are unlikely to make big bets in coming days
* The euro was holding near a two-month peak in Asia on Wednesday, as hopes that Greece was nearer a debt deal sparked a broad short-covering rally and a pick up in risk sentiment. DATA/EVENTS 0700 Germany Trade data Dec 0745 France Budget year-to-date 2350 Japan Money supply Jan 2350 Japan Machinery orders Dec N/A UK BOE starts monetary policy meeting to Feb. 9 PRICES Precious metals prices 0041 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1745.19 0.29 +0.02 11.60 Spot Silver 34.12 -0.02 -0.06 23.22 Spot Platinum 1644.99 0.06 +0.00 18.09 Spot Palladium 705.00 1.27 +0.18 8.05 COMEX GOLD APR2 1748.50 0.10 +0.01 11.60 2129 COMEX SILVER MAR2 34.16 -0.04 -0.11 22.35 832 Euro/Dollar 1.3258 Dollar/Yen 76.87 COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Himani Sarkar rujun.shen@thomsonreuters.com+65-6870-3726Reuters Messaging: rujun.shen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit * BridgeStation : view story .134 * Reuters Plus : from your WebDSS screen For more information on Top News, visit Reuters Terminal users can see related news and prices by double clicking on the codes in brackets: - All precious metals headlines - Precious metals market reports - Daily fixing headlines - Indian gold reports - European gold prices - London interbank gold forward rates