NEW YORK, May 29 (Reuters) - COMEX gold was pressured by profit-taking early on Thursday but was saved from a deeper pullback by the buoyancy of the euro, while a simultaneous plunge in platinum futures also met good buying in New York.
"(Gold's) back following the euro pretty closely. For a few days last week we diverged quite a bit," said James Pogoda, a vice president of precious metals at Mitsubishi International Corp.
June gold at 0928 EDT was down $2.20 at $363.00 an ounce, trading from $365.30 to $360.20, holding above Wednesday's low at $358.60.
Speculators on the COMEX were focused on rolling over or liquidating long positions in the June contract before delivery notices start on Friday.
Spot gold was quoted at $363.30/4.10, down from $364.75/5.45 late Wednesday. London's early spot fix was $361.10.
Gold's low coincided with the euro's overnight dip below $1.17.
The euro rose to $1.1773/80 but remained $1.50 below Tuesday's record high at $1.1925 after the U.S. government reported that new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 424,000 last week from 433,000 in the previous week and that first-quarter gross domestic product expanded at a 1.9 percent annual rate, better than last month's estimate of 1.6 percent.
But with the four-week moving average for new jobless claims stuck above 400,000 for three months, the market was cool to the numbers, buzzing about a "jobless recovery."
"Oddly enough, the euro moved higher. Gold has also moved higher," said another gold trader. "I guess people want to see more than one good number."
The Dow Jones industrial average tried to rally at the open but quickly slipped back.
Gold's tumble from a near four-month peak on Tuesday near $375 an ounce has confirmed suspicions by analysts that it was ripe for a correction, given the sheer weight of the speculative long positions built up in the rally from $320 six weeks ago.
The market was nearly as overbought as it was in early February, when the weak dollar and prewar safe-haven buying drove gold futures to 6-1/2 year highs above $390.
July silver was off 1.5 cents at $4.625 an ounce, trading $4.65-$4.60. Spot silver was at $4.61/63, down from $4.63/65 at the close. The fix was at $4.61.
NYMEX July platinum was down $24.70 at $638.00 an ounce, trading up from the bottom of a $661.00-$627.80 range. Spot was indicated at $641.00/646.00.
A dealer said the selling came from the Japanese general public and hedge funds and fed on itself. Commercial bargain-hunting had kicked in by the time New York opened.
"Stop losses were triggered. Platinum was leveraged to the long side, it's no secret, especially in Japan," he said. "One surprise is with lease rates so high, it fell so hard."
One month platinum lease rates were quoted at 19-20 percent, down from 21 percent on Wednesday but up from an overnight low at 16 percent.
June palladium was off $6.15 at $179.00 an ounce. Spot fetched $175.00/180.00.