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LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices held near $1,620 an ounce on Thursday as investorsgeared up for a statement from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman BenBernanke later, which will be closely watched for clues as to thefuture direction of U.S. monetary policy. Investors will scrutinise Bernanke's testimony in front of acongressional committee for any sign of intent to further easemoney supply, which would buoy gold's appeal as an alternativestore of wealth to potentially volatile currencies. Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,618.60 an ounce at 0957 GMT,while U.S. gold futures for August delivery were down $13.90 anounce at $1,620.30. Prices are little changed this week after posting their biggestone-day rise in more than three years on Friday after disappointingU.S. jobs data reignited speculation that the Fed would unleashanother round of monetary easing. "Some of the poor U.S. data has got people thinking that there isgoing to be another round of quantitative easing sooner rather thanlater," Citigroup analyst David Wilson said. "I suspect Bernankewill at least soften his tone towards QE." "I'm still optimistic for the second half of the year, on theexpectations that we will see a weaker dollar through quantitativeeasing," he added. The euro hovered near one-week highs on Thursday and growth-linkedcurrencies were supported by expectations that global policymakerswill act soon to support a flagging economic recovery. Safe-haven German Bund futures fell meanwhile, extending losses ongrowing expectations of further U.S. monetary stimulus and hopes ofa European policy response to Spain's banking problems. Europeanstocks climbed ahead of the Fed speech. "The gold bulls are desperately hoping for further mention of someform of stimulus," David Govett of Marex Spectron said in a note."If some form of this is put on the table, then I expect gold willreact very positively." "If however, as I personally believe, the Fed leaves things as theyare for the time being, this will be viewed as negative and goldwill fall." BETTER POSITIONED From a chart perspective, gold is looking better positioned forfurther gains after Friday's push higher, analysts who study pastprice moves for clues as to the futures direction of trade said.However, it has not firmly re-established an upward trend. "Gold closed slightly higher (on Wednesday) but failed to hold itshighs of the day or to clear resistance from the downtrend at$1,632," ScotiaMocatta said in a note. "We remain bullish so long as gold stays above $1,600, but willneed to clear resistance to bring in more buyers." Kazakhstan's central bank said on Thursday it would increase theshare of gold in its foreign reserves to 15 percent from about 12percent, a day after announcing plans to cut its holdings in theailing euro by a sixth. Official sector gold demand has been a big support to the goldmarket in recent years, hitting its highest since the mid 1960s in2011. Asian and emerging market banks have been the biggest buyers,with Russia, Mexico and Colombia all adding to reserves. Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.4 percent at $29.26an ounce. Silver rose more than 3 percent on Wednesday to itshighest since May 8, outperforming the yellow metal. "The gold:silver ratio dropped sharply to 55.07 yesterday, aftertouching 57.36 - the highest level since October 2010 - on Monday,"said UBS in a note. "Silver's rally yesterday was even more impressive considering thatour client flows were dominated by weighty sellers, although thisdoes not come as a big surprise as an 'overreaction' in silver." Spot platinum was flat at $1,455.99 an ounce, while spot palladiumwas down 0.1 percent at $622.72 an ounce. Holdings of palladium-backed exchange-traded funds tracked byReuters rose 1.5 percent or 27,225 ounces by close of business onMonday, their biggest one-day rise in absolute terms since Feb. 2.The inflow went into Zurich Cantonalbank's palladium fund. (Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Alison Birrane) Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Pump Laser Diode Manufacturer , China diode laser driver, and more. For more , please visit diode laser module today!
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