By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold fell on Friday to track weaker oil, while platinum jumped to its highest in more than a week as speculative buying accelerated after the white metal regained $2,000 an ounce.
Spot platinum hit a high of $2,030 an ounce, its best level since March 17, up from $2,023/2,033 in New York. It struck a record $2,290 on March 4 on supply fears driven by mining disruptions in main producer South Africa.
Platinum has gained around 50 percent in 2008 after a power crisis in South Africa forced gold and platinum mines to shut down for five days in January, driving platinum prices to a lifetime high.
"Jewellery makers in Japan and China will gradually enter the market. That's a good support for platinum. Maybe this time the upside targets are $2,050 or $2,100," said Yukuji Sonoda, a precious metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
Auto makers in Japan, who had purchased enough platinum during January and February, would stock up again in the business year starting April, said Sonoda, adding that investment demand also supported the metal.
Platinum, used in jewellery and auto catalysts to clean exhaust fumes, tumbled to a 6-week low at $1,805 an ounce last week on broad-based sell-off in commodities as funds booked profits from record highs.
Gold dropped to $942.60/943.50 an ounce from $951.80/952.60 late in New York. It jumped to a one-week high of $954.50 on Thursday before a rebounding dollar erased some of the gains -- off last week's record of $1,030.80.
"There's book squaring at the end of fiscal year. The market has gone up by more than $40 in the last few days, so it's taking a break. Weaker oil is also a factor," said a dealer in Hong Kong.
"I think it's going to be in rangebound trade for a while at $940 to $955," he said.
Crude oil fell towards $106 a barrel as worries about the U.S. economic outlook encouraged traders to book profits from a three-day rally. The euro edged up to $1.5795 turning back towards a record high of $1.5905 after making a pause from sharp gains earlier this week. The most active Tokyo platinum futures ended 105 yen per gram higher at 6,390 yen per gram to track a firm cash market, but the contract was struggling to retest a record of 7,427 yen hit in early March.
Gold futures for April delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $6.7 an ounce to $942.1 an ounce and off last week's record of $1,033.90.
Silver eased to $18.25/18.30 an ounce from $18.50/18.55 an ounce -- off a 27-year high of $21.24 hit on March 17.
Spot palladium dipped to $444/449 an ounce from $445/450 an ounce in New York -- well below a 6-1/2-year high of $590 struck on March 4.
