Gold holds above $620 in Asia - 20 December 2006

Gold has clung onto its Dollar gains from Tuesday so far today, but it's dipped back for Sterling and Euro investors as the US currency weakens.

Short-term, "gold's pretty directionless at the moment," says Mark Pervan, head of research at Daiwa Securities in Melbourne. "People are a little cautious."

"It's likely to be holding somewhere in the region of between $610 and $640 an ounce," adds Craig James, chief economist at Commonwealth Securities in Sydney.

"That's a fairly wide trading range in a short space of time, but gold has been very volatile and has moved very much in line with the greenback, and also with oil prices."

On the currency markets the Euro has leapt versus the Dollar overnight, its biggest jump in 3 weeks. Sterling has gained nearly 3 cents to $1.97 in the last 2 days alone. Japanese investors have also seen gold slip this month as the Dollar has weakened. The US currency slipped again yesterday despite data showing US factory input prices rising at their fastest rate in 32 years.

What next for the almighty Dollar? Today will see Mortgage Application data for the US for the week to Dec.15. But the real data-fest today comes with a slew of monetary statistics in the UK – most notably public borrowing and broad money supply.

The two are inextricably linked, not least for foreign investors using the Pound to hedge their Dollar exposure. To read more now, click here...