Gold edged down yesterday as investors booked profits after a 1 percent rally, but it remained supported above $ 1,460 an ounce and on course for its biggest weekly gain in more than a year. Bullion has now recovered about 75 percent of massive losses incurred between April 12 and 16. Sentiment, though buoyed, was still on an unsure footing with investors in exchange-traded funds heading for the exit, highlighted by further fund outflows on potential central bank sales and uncertainty over US monetary stimulus. Spot gold hit its highest since April 15 at $ 1,484.81 an ounce, dipping to $ 1,463.25, down 0.3 percent, by 1547 GMT. US gold futures for June delivery rose as high as $ 1,484.80 an ounce before slipping to $ 1,461.80, down 0.6 percent. “There has been some profit-taking, although ... poor (US) Q1 GDP data missed the three percent target and that is encouraging for gold because the whole sell-off in the metal was linked to perceptions that the US economy was getting stronger and stronger,” Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said. Physical buying persisted in Asia, with premiums for gold bars in Hong Kong jumping to their highest level since October 2011 this week, at up to $ 3 an ounce to spot London prices. Premiums in Singapore stayed at their highest since October 2008 at $ 3 an ounce to the spot London prices on demand from Indonesia, Thailand and India. “The market rallied quite strongly yesterday and we thought we would see some easiness in the physical market, which hasn't been the case and there still seems to be some tightness, which puts the $1,500 level on the cards,” MKS head of trading Afshin Nabavi said. Nabavi added that there hadn't been the same kind of shortage for prompt delivery since 1998, when India officially opened up imports. A daily drop in exchange-traded funds' holdings suggested that gold investors were still licking their wounds after bullion's historic fall last week. Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, dipped 0.25 percent to 1,090.27 tons on Thursday, from 1,092.98 on Wednesday. Holdings are at their lowest level since September 2009. Silver fell 2 percent to $23.87 an ounce, having earlier risen to a 10-day high of $ 24.82. It is set for its highest weekly gain since January. The gold/silver ratio remained high with an ounce of gold buying about 60 ounces of silver.
