NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - COMEX gold circled the unchanged level early Wednesday, recouping slight overnight losses after the dollar edged off its high against the euro while traders also looked to the stock market for signals.
COMEX June gold opened lower, moved 80 cents into the black and at 1015 EST was back off 50 cents at $335.50. It traded from $333.10 to $335.60.
"It's probably just a little bit of continuation of dollar strength and, on balance, better-than-expected corporate earnings," said James Pogoda, a vice president of precious metals at Mitsubishi International Corp.
Gold rose 3 percent over the last five sessions, hitting its highest since April 2 on Tuesday at $336.80.
A floor broker said: "We're quiet and busy here," reporting dealer buying coming in spurts.
Spot gold was quoted at $333.10/90, off from $334.00/70 late Tuesday. London bullion dealers fixed the morning spot reference price at $333.80.
"I think it's just people looking to buy the dips in the new range here. It's $328-$342 in my opinion," said a bullion dealer.
The euro was quoted near its low at $1.0930/34, down from $1.0971/77 late Tuesday. It hit its highest in almost six weeks on Tuesday, supporting dollar-denominated bullion by making it cheaper to European investors in local terms.
The Dow Jones industrial stock average was up 19 points in early trade, cooling a bit after Tuesday's 156 point gain took some of the steam out of gold's rally.
News that the Bank of Portugal sold 45 tonnes of gold in March and April put a lid on the market, as did worries that the spread of the virus causing Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) could crimp demand for precious metals from Asia.
May silver was off 0.2 cent at $4.595 an ounce, trading $4.62 to $4.57, after rising to a five-week high on Tuesday. Spot silver was unchanged from late Tuesday at $4.59/61. The fix was $4.565.
NYMEX July platinum was down $4.20 at $625.50 an ounce. Spot was quoted at $638.00/643.00.
One background negative for platinum, which rose to 23 year highs last month, is concern that SARS could impact economic activity in China like it has in Hong Kong.
China is an important source of new demand for platinum for jewelry.
"If any of these markets are going to get hurt, you could argue that platinum may weaken as the spread of SARS changes people's spending habits," said the second dealer.
June palladium was off $4.75 at $158.50 an ounce, in the grips of a bear market and jitters about diminished demand from the automobile industry, the main consumer of the metal for catalytic converters. Spot palladium was quoted at $153.00/158.00.