PRECIOUS-Gold near 1-month low, Tokyo pulls back from record
SINGAPORE, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Gold slipped on Tuesday, trading near its weakest level in a month as the Lunar New Year break in Asia curbed physical demand, while Tokyo bullion futures softened after hitting a record high last week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Gold fell $2.05 an ounce to $1,645.60 by 0030 GMT, not far from $1,643 marked on Monday, it weakest since Jan. 7. Gold ended up around 7 percent in 2012 - the 12th straight year of gains, making it one of the longest bull runs ever for a commodity.
* U.S. gold was at $1,646.20 an ounce, down $2.90.
Tokyo gold futures softened 28 yen to 5,002 yen a gram with speculators taking profits from last week's rally to an all-time high of 5,081 yen a gram. Trading was closed on Monday for a holiday.
* Markets reopened in Japan and South Korea, but Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia and Taiwan remained closed.
* Booming demand for gold as a store of wealth among Asian investors is driving physical gold bars and coins out of the United States and into Asia.
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MARKET NEWS
* The yen hovered near fresh lows against the dollar and Japanese stocks jumped on Tuesday after a U.S. official voiced support for Japan's drive to beat deflation, assuaging fears that criticism of its aggressive stance on monetary policy would mount.
* Two G20 officials said separately the Group of Seven nations are considering issuing a statement reaffirming their commitment to "market-determined" exchange rates.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0500 Japan Consumer confid. index Jan 2013 JPCONI=ECI 1245 U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly USUBSY=ECI 1900 U.S. Federal budget,$ Jan USGDEF=ECI 2130 U.S. API weekly crude stocks Weekly USOIAC=ECI 2130 U.S. API weekly dist. stocks Weekly USOIAD=ECI 2130 U.S. API weekly gasoline stk Weekly USOIAG=ECI N/A India Industrial Output yy Dec 2012 INIP=ECI
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0030 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1645.60 -2.05 -0.12 -1.73 Spot Silver 30.84 -0.05 -0.16 1.85 Spot Platinum 1687.75 2.75 +0.16 9.95 Spot Palladium 754.72 -1.28 -0.17 9.06 COMEX GOLD APR3 1646.20 -2.90 -0.18 -1.77 2680 COMEX SILVER MAR3 30.86 -0.05 -0.16 2.08 725 Euro/Dollar 1.3399 Dollar/Yen 94.18
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)