SINGAPORE, March 14 (Reuters) - Gold fell for a third day on Wednesday
as investors switched to equities after the U.S. Federal Reserve vowed to keep
interest rates low until 2014, while platinum prices held at premiums to bullion
on lingering worries about supply disruption. 	
    Investors also ditched gold in favour of the dollar after Fed Chairman Ben
Bernanke offered no clues on whether there will be another round of monetary
easing, which would offer support to bullion as a safe haven.	
    Gold hit an intraday high at $1,681.95 before slipping to
$1,671.19 an ounce by 0644 GMT, down $3.56. On Tuesday, it hit a low of
$1,661.99, its weakest since late January. Bullion rose to a record of around
$1,920 in September on fears the euro debt crisis could stall global growth. 	
    "Gold is just caught in a downdraft again after Bernanke didn't really talk
about quantitative easing. But there is still this deep-seated theme of central
bank buying and strong retail demand from emerging Asia, particularly China,"
said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore. 	
    "The bottom of the market is about $1,650 at the moment, but we won't rule
out another stab at resistance at $1,700."	
    Quantitative easing, or major asset purchases by the Fed, keeps interest
rates and borrowing costs low, which in theory makes gold more attractive
compared with yield- or dividend-bearing assets such as bonds or stocks. 	
     Platinum rose $4.31 an ounce to $1,685.74 an ounce, having hit an
intraday high $1,701.50.    	
     Platinum gained on worries about supply following a month-long stoppage at
the world's second-largest producer Impala Platinum's largest facility,
which the company said cost nearly 200,000 ounces in production and would
probably cut deliveries in April by as much as 50 percent.	
    U.S. April gold extended losses, falling more than 1 percent to
$1,671.90 an ounce after upbeat U.S. economic data boosted investors' risk
appetite. 	
    The Fed said the economy was "expanding moderately", although growth still
faced significant downside risks. The assessment of the economy's expansion was
unchanged from the Fed's January statement. 	
    Investors are now looking to the Fed's policy meetings in April and June for
decisions about any new directions for policy.	
    Shares in Asia rose on Wednesday as upbeat U.S. economic data plus signs of
improving capital positions at big American banks stoked appetite for risk,
while reduced expectations for more monetary easing by the Fed underpinned the
dollar. 	
    Data in the United States once again indicated a slowly improving domestic
economy, as retail sales recorded their largest gain in five months in February
despite rising gasoline prices.      	
    "Gold has been caught in this kind of range for too long. If it continues
like this, we will all turn into stones here," said a physical dealer in
Singapore.	
    "Personally, I believe the last round of sell-down has washed out the long
bullish stakeholders, while those who are interested in taking new positions are
not doing so because they expect the price to go even lower." 	
    In currencies, the dollar eased from a seven-week high against a basket of
major currencies of 80.320 hit on Tuesday, but touched a fresh 11-month
high of 83.28 yen. The euro fell some 10 pips to $1.3070, with
support seen at $1.3054. 	   	
  Precious metals prices 0644 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1671.19   -3.56   -0.21      6.87
  Spot Silver        33.06   -0.32   -0.96     19.39
  Spot Platinum    1685.74    4.31   +0.26     21.02
  Spot Palladium    696.95   -3.15   -0.45      6.81
  COMEX GOLD APR2  1671.90  -22.30   -1.32      6.71        26274
  COMEX SILVER MAY2  33.09   -0.49   -1.46     18.54         3253
  Euro/Dollar       1.3040
  Dollar/Yen         83.12
 

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