LONDON, Feb 4: Gold held around $900 an ounce on Wednesday as the dollar retained its gains against the euro after a report showed US private sector employment fell in line with expectations in January.

Spot gold was quoted at $900.20/902.20 an ounce against $900.40 an ounce late in New York on Tuesday.

US gold futures for April delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $8.50 to $900.50 an ounce.

The market is awaiting interest rates announcements from European central banks on Thursday and key US jobs data on Friday for fresh direction, but remains supported by demand for gold as a safe store of value, analysts said.

Dresdner Kleinwort consultant Peter Fertig said while the ECB is highly unlikely to cut rates, comments made at the press conference following its rate-setting meeting “could surprise”.

It feels like gold will be in a range of $880-930 for the short term, Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS Finance in Geneva, said.

Tomorrow is a big day as far as the news is concerned, so we will see what the central banks want to do with their interest rates. For gold, risk aversion is likely to provide significant support for the precious metal.

Demand for gold as a safe store of value has surged recently as other assets have become increasingly volatile. Physical bullion in the form of coins and bars and gold-backed exchange traded funds have proved popular with investors.

The world’s largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust said its holdings held at a record 853.37 tons on Tuesday, up more than 9 per cent from Jan 2.

However, demand for gold jewellery in traditionally key global centres such as India and the Middle East has been soft.

Platinum was at $962.50/967.50 an ounce from $959.50, while palladium was at $190/195 an ounce against $191.50.—Reuters