PRECIOUS-Gold Heads for Biggest Weekly Gain since Late 2011

SINGAPORE, April 26  - Gold rose to its highest in more than a week on Friday, heading for its biggest weekly gain since October 2011, after a surge in physical demand in Asia helped pluck the metal from a 2-year trough.

       

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold added $4.06 an ounce to $1,471.05 by 0025 GMT after posting its biggest daily rise since June last year on Thursday. Gold plunged to around $1,321 on April 16, the lowest in more than two years, in a sell-off that surprised ardent gold investors and bulls.

    

* U.S. gold futures for June delivery stood at $1,471.00 an ounce, up $9.00.   

     

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.25 percent to 1,090.27 tonnes on Thursday from 1,092.98 tonnes on Wednesday. The current holdings are at their multi-year lows. 

    

* Turkey, one of the world's biggest gold buyers, has imported more of the precious metal in April than in any month since last July following a surge in domestic demand after gold prices hit a two-year low last week. 

    

* Premiums for gold bars soared to multi-year highs in Asia after a spate of physical buying ran down supplies, with dealers in top consumer India expecting a surge in imports this month/

 

* Russia and Turkey raised their gold reserves in March, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, increasing their holdings ahead of a spectacular plunge in prices this month.

 

MARKET NEWS

* The dollar recovered from losses to trade higher against the euro on Thursday as resilience in the U.S. labor market allayed some concerns about the nation's economic recovery, with many analysts expecting more gains ahead for the greenback.

 

* Japan's Nikkei average advanced in early trade on Friday after strong U.S. company earnings and resilient labour market data boosted Wall Street, although the benchmark was holding just below the 14,000-mark, a level not seen since June 2008.

    

    DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

    N/A Bank of Japan policy decision 

    0600 Germany Import prices 

    0645 France Consumer confidence 

    0800 Euro zone M3 money supply 

    1230 U.S. Q1 GDP <USGDPR=ECI

    

    PRICES

    

  Precious metals prices 0025 GMT

  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume

  Spot Gold        1471.05    4.06   +0.28    -12.15

  Spot Silver        24.42    0.09   +0.37    -19.35

  Spot Platinum    1463.00   -3.50   -0.24     -4.69

  Spot Palladium    680.22    0.22   +0.03     -1.70

  COMEX GOLD JUN3  1471.00    9.00   +0.62    -12.22         6034

  COMEX SILVER MAY3  24.41    0.27   +1.12    -19.25         1358

  Euro/Dollar       1.3000

  Dollar/Yen         99.14