Gold steadies above 3-month low after setting biggest one-day loss since 2008

Friday, gold prices hovered above 3-month lows, a day after posting their biggest one-day loss since 2008, with investors wary of taking risks amid mounting sovereign debt fears in Europe.

Spot gold changed slightly touching $1,063.35 per ounce as of 8:55 p.m. EST, against New York's notional close of $1,062.60. Spot gold hit a low of $1,059.10 an ounce on Thursday, the weakest since November 3.

At present, spot bullion is set for a weekly drop of nearly 2%.

Thursday, spot gold 4.2% drop marked its biggest one-day percentage loss since December 1, 2008, when it plummeted by 5.6%.

A slide in stocks, commodities falling broadly and the weaker euro triggered large technical selling in the gold market yesterday, diminishing prices that dropped to the lowest since November, 3 level.
Spot gold traded in a range around the $1,050 level for about a month last October before breaking upward to test new highs in December.

US gold futures for April delivery were also steady at $1,064.00 per ounce, compared to $1,063.00 on the COMEX division of NYMEX.

As for the other precious metals, they still remain under pressure after posting huge losses the previous day.

Spot silver was up slightly at $15.25 per ounce, while spot platinum eased to $1,483.00. Spot palladium fell nearly 3 percent to $395.25. Thursday, silver slid by nearly 7% to its lowest since September, platinum dropped by more than 4% and palladium fell by 6%.

As bullion prices hit 3-month lows, so did holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust, that fell by 0.5% to 1,104.550 tonnes as of February, 4, down 5.789 tonnes from the previous business day, and the lowest since late October. The holdings fell for a second straight day.

The iShares Silver Trust also reported its silver holdings eased by 0.04% or 4.21 tonnes from the previous business day to 9,351.77 tonnes as of February, 4.

Around 4:13 p.m. EST ( 21:13 GMT) the precious metals was quoted as much as:

Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover

Gold XAU= 1064.15 -44.70 -4.0 1096.35 -2.9
Silver XAG= 15.25 -1.09 -6.7 16.84 -9.4
Platinum XPT= 1504.50 -68.00 -4.3 1465.50 2.7
Palladium XPD= 407.50 -27.000 -6.2 405.50 0.5
Gold Fix XAUFIX= 1083.25 -19.25 -1.7 1104 -1.9
Silver Fix XAGFIX= 16.13 -66.00 -3.9 16.99 -5.1
Platinum Fix XPTFIX= 1549.00 1.00 0.1 1466 5.7
Palladium FixXPDFIX= 431.00 1.00 0.2 402 7.2
US gold GCJ0 1063.00 -49 -4.4 1096.20 -3.0
US silver SIH0 15.350 -0.967 -5.9 16.845 -8.9
US platinum PLJ0 1515.30 -60.90 -3.9 1471.00 3.0
US palladium PAH0 408.40 -28.40 -6.5 408.85 -0.1

TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices are in $ per ounce.