London 20/03/2012 - Gold prices edged lower in thin Tuesday afternoon trading, pressured by a stronger dollar on Chinese growth concerns and continued worries about softer demand from major consumer India.

Spot gold dropped to $1,653.120-1,653.35 per ounce, down $10.20 on Monday's close but up from its intraday low of $1,641.55, with the lower prices attracting some bargain hunting.

“The lack of physical buying has weighed on gold, which is taking the rest of the complex down with it," Standard Bank said.

The euro was trading at a soft 1.3224 against the US dollar, having earlier hit an intraday low of 1.3169, on fears of slower Chinese growth.

Ian Ashby, president of BHP's iron ore division, reportedly said that Chinese iron ore year-on-year demand growth could fall to single digits as its economy cools off in the coming months.

"Recent comments from BHP Billiton that iron ore demand is flattening out in China as the country’s economic focus shifts from large building projects to providing consumer products was further confirmation that China is slowing down," FastMarkets analyst William Adams said.

This has compounded a recent lowering of full-year GDP growth forecasts to 7.5 percent from eight percent and a raft of softer trade data, including the softest start top the year for automobile sales since 2005. 

Elsewhere in Asia, Indian gold dealers extended a nationwide strike for a further two more days after the government announced it will double the import duty on the metal to four percent.

"Physical buying out of Asia has evaporated as India’s bullion markets remain closed in protest to last week’s announcement of an increase in import duties on gold," Standard Bank added.

An estimated 90 percent of the nation’s 300,000 jewellers have closed their shops for a fourth day in protest.

“There has been no physical trade here for three days,” Ajay Kumar of Kedia Commodities said.

Russia's central bank sold 3.1 tonnes of gold from its official reserves last month, data from its website showed - the first decrease for several years. 

Holdings fell to 28.3 million ounces or 880.2 tonnes in February, having remained steady at 28.4 million ounces or 883.2 tonnes for the previous two months.

Among other precious metals, silver fell 50 cents to 32.16-32.21. Platinum fell $29 to $1,649-1,659 per ounce, while palladium was also down $13 at $691.50-701.99.


(Additional reporting by Clara Denina and Tom Jennemann, editing by Mark Shaw)

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