* Gold up in sharp late-session rally on fund buying
* Bullion breaches technical resistance
* Platinum hits 5-month high on S. African supply concerns
* Coming up: U.S. weekly jobless claims Thursday
By Frank Tang and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Gold jumped to a
three-month high on Wednesday, reversing early losses
after bullish technical factors triggered fund buying, and
platinum prices hit their highest in five months on supply
worries.
Platinum outperformed gold's 1 percent gain, rallying 2
percent on the prospect of shortage driven by a labor dispute in
South Africa, the world's top platinum producer.
Bullion turned positive late in the session and accelerated
upwards once it breached technical resistance near $1,765 an
ounce, an important area on price charts where two rallies
failed since December.
"We are seeing all the funds step in. It (technical buying)
is the only thing at the moment that we can pin it on," said
Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader at Integrated
Brokerage Services LLC.
Spot gold was up 1.1 percent at $1,777.98 an
ounce by 3:13 p.m. EST (2013 GMT), having earlier hit a
three-month high of $1,781.40.
Rick Bensignor, chief market analyst at Merlin
Securities, said gold's rally to three-month high triggered
pre-established orders to buy on the way up to stop losses as
well as enter positions to capitalize on the momentum.
However, he added that gold is not far from a near-term
peak between $1,780 and $1,805 an ounce.
"Gold's counter-trend model suggests that this...is not
necessarily a true breakout," Bensignor said.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled up
$12.80 an ounce at $1,771.30, with trading volume largely
in line with its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data
showed.
Gains in crude oil and grain prices, and rising
geopolitical tensions between Iran and the West also lent
support to gold.
Bullion has benefited from expectations for further easing
by China and news China's central bank might have bought gold to
add to its reserves also improved sentiment.
The metal already received a strong boost after the U.S.
Federal Reserve last month said it would keep rates near zero at
least until late 2014.
PLATINUM HIT FIVE-MONTH HIGH
Meanwhile, platinum prices rallied to a five-month high at
$1,723.50 an ounce, lifted by ongoing labor unrest at one of the
world's biggest platinum mine Rustenburg in South Africa owned
by Implats Platinum.
Bill O'Neill, partner of commodities
investment firm LOGIC Advisor, said that the supply woes are
likely to exacerbate platinum's market deficit in 2012, and the
price of platinum could exceed that of gold very soon.
Spot platinum was up
2 . 1 percent at
$1,71 9 . 77 an
ounce .
Platinum narrowed what has been an historically
unprecedented discount to gold to around $40 from $230 in
January. Platinum traded as low as $1,340 an ounce on Dec.
29.
Implats, the world's No. 2 platinum miner behind Anglo
American Platinum, has warned customers that its April
platinum deliveries would be down by a half.
Among other precious metals, silver was
up 0. 2 percent at
$34. 35 an ounce , spot
palladium was up 1. 3 percent at
$71 7 an ounce.
3:13 PM EST LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL
US Gold APR 1771.30 12.80 0.7 1750.70 1783.40 157,769
US Silver MAR 34.254 -0.175 -0.5 33.900 34.495 57,865
US Plat APR 1720.80 35.90 2.1 1689.00 1729.00 11,413
US Pall MAR 717.75 7.00 1.0 708.25 724.40 5,032
Gold 1777.98 18.99 1.1 1750.00 1781.40
Silver 34.350 0.060 0.2 33.940 34.480
Platinum 1719.77 35.78 2.1 1689.00 1723.50
Palladium 717.00 9.28 1.3 710.00 719.72
TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG
US Gold 174,378 195,047 194,989 20.39 0.12
US Silver 86,139 50,333 44,493 32.68 2.26
US Platinum 12,076 7,466 7,475 21.32 0.05
US Palladium 7,315 4,134 4,078
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