PRECIOUS-Gold bounces off 6-month low; China reopens
SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Gold rebounded from a six-month low on Monday as bargain hunters resurfaced, and dealers expected buying from jewellers in Asia to pick up as markets reopen in China after the Lunar New Year holiday.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Gold rose $6.05 an ounce to $1,615.11 by 0034 GMT after falling to around $1,598 on Friday, its weakest since August, on a rising U.S. dollar and technical selling. It marked gold's biggest one-day drop since December.
* U.S. gold for April delivery was at $1,615.20 an ounce, up $5.70
* Hedge funds and some big speculators slashed their bullish bets on U.S. commodities, taking aim particularly at gold which has lost some of its lustre this year, trade data released on Friday showed.
* A raft of business surveys this week will be combed over for confirmation of hopes that a dire fourth quarter of 2012 marked the cyclical trough for the world economy.
* Major powers plan to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for Iranian steps to shut down the nation's newly expanded Fordow uranium enrichment plant, Western officials said on Friday.
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MARKET NEWS
* Japanese shares rallied and the yen fell on Monday after Tokyo escaped direct criticism from its G20 peers on its aggressive reflationary plans that have weakened the currency.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) - 0900 Euro zone current account - 0900 Euro zone Net investment flow - 1430 ECB President Mario Draghi testifies at European Parliament
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0034 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1615.11 6.05 +0.38 -3.55 Spot Silver 29.98 0.23 +0.77 -0.99 Spot Platinum 1686.74 9.24 +0.55 9.89 Spot Palladium 759.60 6.13 +0.81 9.77 COMEX GOLD APR3 1615.20 5.70 +0.35 -3.62 5159 COMEX SILVER MAR3 29.97 0.12 +0.41 -0.86 3319 Euro/Dollar 1.3344 Dollar/Yen 93.79
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)