Gold sits tight, eyes on G20

Tokyo - Gold prices held tight on Thursday as traders looked to a G20 meeting and the release of key US data for a clue on whether risk aversion would remain a focus for the market.

"The focus is on data on US employment, as that is most likely to move the currency market and stocks," said Koji Suzuki, a senior analyst at SBI Futures, adding that the fate of ailing US automakers General Motor and Chrysler would also be watched.

Data on March US non-farm payrolls and the unemployment rate are due to be released on Friday at 12:30 GMT.

Gold was at $925.55 an ounce as of 02:56 GMT, down 0.1% from New York's notional close of $926.40 on Wednesday, when it gained 1%.

Suzuki said the market had mostly factored in the G20 meeting in London, though some were still cautious about it.

"Nobody wants to move ahead of the meeting," he said.

World leaders are gathering for a G20 summit in London on Thursday, where they are due to craft a response to the worst economic crisis in decades.

While risk aversion has been supporting gold, leading consumers of the precious metal have bowed out due to high prices.

Top consumer India imported no gold for the second month in a row in March, and Turkey imported just 40kg in the month, its first influx of 2009 and sharply below the 675kg it imported for the same month last year.

Sales of jewellery by Italy, the world's top exporter, fell 12.9% to 211.8 tonnes last year, industry body Club degli Orafi said on Wednesday.

It is investors who have been the main buyers of gold, evident in the high holdings in metal-backed exchange-traded funds.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said holdings stayed unchanged at a record 1 127.44 tonnes as of April 1, a level first reached on March 29.

- Reuters