* Gold near highest since April on stimulus speculation
* Sell-off possible if Bernanke disappoints
* Bullion ETFs' holdings rose to record
* Coming up: U.S. real GDP data Wednesday
(Updates markets activity)
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on Tuesday as
weak U.S. consumer confidence boosted speculation of new
stimulus from the Federal Reserve, but some analysts warned of a
possible sell-off if the U.S. central bank does not commit to
more monetary easing.
Bullion climbed slightly on a weak dollar as investors
expected the Fed may unveil another round of stimulus at the
annual symposium of central bankers and finance ministers in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to
deliver a speech on Friday.
Gold investors could quickly unwind bullish positions if
Bernanke does not signal readiness to launch a third round of
government bond buying, or quantitative easing, analysts said.
"Gold prices could correct, possibly abruptly and steeply,
should Bernanke's speech again hint of distancing the Fed from
further monetary policy easing," said James Steel, analyst at
HSBC.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent on the day at $1,666.01
an ounce by 1:57 p.m. EDT (1757 GMT), hovering near a 4-1/2
month high at $1,676.45 on Monday.
The metal has gained 5 percent in the past nine sessions.
Spot prices have narrowed their gap with futures after a
wave of selling sent spot bullion lower after Monday's futures
settlement.
U.S. COMEX gold futures for December delivery settled
down $5.90 an ounce at $1,669.70, and trading volume was on
track to finish below its average, preliminary Reuters data
showed.
Silver climbed 0.5 percent at $30.85 an ounce.
Sentiment in the gold market also received a boost after a
report showed the U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated in
August to the lowest in nine months as Americans were more
pessimistic about labor market prospects.
A patchy run of U.S. economic data and comments from Fed
policymakers that the fragility of the recovery may warrant more
easing to keep interest rates low has pushed equities to
four-year highs and lifted gold, a traditional inflation hedge.
Fed policymakers were still weighing options and have not
yet agreed to more stimulus, said Dallas Fed President Richard
Fisher, who opposes more easing.
INVESTORS SOAK UP GOLD
Despite uncertainty in recent weeks, investors have
gradually increased gold ownership. Holdings of gold in
exchange-traded products hit a record 71.53 million ounces on
Friday, driven by a broad-based flow of metal into most of the
major ETPs monitored by Reuters.
Adding to the bullish undertone in the gold market was
concern about supply from South Africa, which has 80 percent of
the world's platinum and also a major gold producer. Tension in
the country's mining industry has run high after deadly violence
at Lonmin's Marikana mine.
Platinum group metals investors took profits after their
recent run-ups. Spot platinum was down 1.5 percent at
$1,514.25 an ounce, while palladium dropped 1.8 percent to
$634.08 an ounce.
1:57 PM EDT LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL
US Gold DEC 1669.70 -5.90 -0.4 1659.10 1674.90 93,243
US Silver SEP 30.875 -0.173 -0.6 30.485 30.975 40,913
US Plat OCT 1520.40 -32.80 -2.1 1517.50 1547.00 7,490
US Pall SEP 639.70 -15.05 -2.3 634.60 653.75 4,593
Gold 1666.01 2.41 0.1 1657.88 1672.20
Silver 30.850 0.160 0.5 30.540 30.990
Platinum 1514.25 -22.85 -1.5 1521.00 1541.00
Palladium 634.08 -11.52 -1.8 638.27 650.51
TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG
US Gold 97,891 148,926 180,700 17.38 -0.27
US Silver 68,389 43,691 56,457 28.11 1.74
US Platinum 7,787 14,378 9,636 23.33 0.10
US Palladium 9,067 6,404 4,617
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper and Jan Harvey in
London; Editing by David Gregorio and Marguerita Choy)
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