PRECIOUS-Gold drops below $1,650, focus shifts to equities
* Chinese buying still muted by Lunar New Year
* Uncertainty over U.S. automatic spending cuts supports
* Palladium hits fresh 17-month high before retreating
* Coming up: U.S. weekly initial jobless claims Thursday
(New updates throughout, changes byline, dateline, previously LONDON) NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Gold fell below $1,650 an ounce on Wednesday after data showed disappointingly small growth in U.S. retail sales in January, while some investors stayed at the sidelines ahead of a G20 meeting later this week, which is expected to set the tone for the gold trade. China's week-long Lunar New Year holiday also curbed interest in the physical market, traders said. Analysts said that some investors turned their attention to Wall Street and away from gold and other commodities after the benchmark U.S. equities index S&P 500 rose to its highest intraday level since Nov. 2007. "More money is piling into the equities and real estate as the economy is getting better. It doesn't bode well for gold which is not rising with the stimulus programs in China and Japan," said Bruce Dunn, vice president of trading at precious metals dealer Auramet. Spot gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,641.74 an ounce by 3:03 p.m. EST (2003 GMT). U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled down $4.50 at $1,645.10 an ounce, with trading volume at 30 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Gold suffered technical selling pressure this week, with prices sliding to Tuesday's one-month low at $1,638.82. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday U.S. retail sales barely rose in January as tax increases and higher gasoline prices restrained spending, setting up the economy for only modest growth in the first quarter. However, Howard Wen, metals analyst at HSBC, said that uncertainty over a series of U.S. automatic spending cuts and resurgent physical demand after the Lunar new year should underpin gold. Silver dropped 1 percent to $30.76 an ounce.
G20, CURRENCY MOVEMENT EYED Analysts said they expect prices will edge higher in coming sessions on investor short-covering before the Group of 20 summit. "Although people are not expecting anything dramatic to be said at the G20 meeting, there is still some uncertainty, which may see short-term investors cover their short positions in coming sessions," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bahr said. G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are set to meet in Moscow on Friday, with negotiations around competitive currency policies likely to dominate. Platinum group metals (PGMs) continued to outperform gold and silver, with palladium briefly hitting a 17-month high on supply worries and demand hopes before retreating. Spot palladium fell 0.6 percent to $764.22 an ounce. Earlier in the session, it hit $775, its strongest since Sept. 5, 2011. Platinum edged up 0.3 percent to $1,718, still within sight of a 17-month peak struck last week. With a 12 percent gain, platinum is the best performer this year so far, compared with a 10 percent increase for palladium and a nearly 2 percent fall in gold.
3:03 PM EST LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL US Gold APR 1645.10 -4.50 -0.3 1640.50 1655.00 120,819 US Silver MAR 30.869 -0.150 -0.5 30.730 31.225 32,629 US Plat APR 1729.70 12.50 0.7 1717.80 1735.90 8,829 US Pall MAR 772.05 0.65 0.1 766.00 777.60 6,610Gold 1641.74 -8.66 -0.5 1640.93 1653.20 Silver 30.760 -0.320 -1.0 30.750 31.210 Platinum 1718.00 4.51 0.3 1719.75 1731.00 Palladium 764.22 -4.78 -0.6 769.00 775.00TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG US Gold 135,762 184,326 172,646 14.05 0.00 US Silver 42,355 47,348 51,952 21.31 -0.49 US Platinum 9,001 16,351 11,059 17.2 0.03 US Palladium 9,222 4,975 4,759
(Additional reporting by Clara Denina in London; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)