By stockOzone team

Gold prices gained on Wednesday to remain around $1,000 per ounce on speculative buying, while the dollar remained under pressure.

Analysts said the gold market was supported by Barrick Gold , the world's top gold miner, which said on Tuesday it would issue $3 billion (1.8 billion pounds) in stock to eliminate all of its fixed-price gold hedges and a portion of its floating hedges.

"Barrick Gold said that they are going to end gold hedges in the third quarter, which means they are buying back what they sold before," said Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank. "It would be the reason for the increase."

"You also have strong investment interest at the moment ... media interest in this $1,000 mark is also increasing the interest from the speculative side."

He added that gold prices could see a strong move lower within weeks, as the Barrick Gold announcement and hype surrounding the $1,000 price move is replaced by fundamentals.

PRICES
* Spot gold was at $1,001.60 at 7:54 a.m. compared with $995.20 late in New York on Tuesday.

* Silver was at $16.58 from $16.41.

* Platinum at $1,292.50 from $1,283.00.

* Palladium at $295 from $294.00.

DATA/EVENTS
* Bank of England policymakers start two-day meeting and are seen holding borrowing costs at a record low 0.5 percent when the meeting concludes.

* UK July trade data at 9:30 a.m..

* Weekly U.S. mortgage market index at 12 p.m..

* ICSC/Goldman Sachs release chain store sales for the week ended September 5 versus the prior week at 12:45 p.m..

* Redbook releases its U.S. Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for September versus August at 1:55 p.m..

* Federal Reserve issues the Beige Book, a summary of economic conditions in the 12 Fed districts at 7 p.m..

MARKET NEWS
* Asian stocks drifted lower after initially hitting a one-year high and the dollar hovered near a one-year low, with investors taking a breather from moving money into riskier assets in the hope that the global recovery is strengthening.

* The dollar fell to its lowest in a year against the Australian and New Zealand dollars and hovered near its 2009 low against the euro, as investors sold the low-yielding greenback in a renewed shift to riskier assets.

* Oil prices held steady around $71 a barrel, consolidating the previous session's dollar-driven 4.5 percent rally as investors waited for an OPEC meeting to conclude and fresh U.S. inventory data.

* U.S. stocks advanced on an uptick in corporate deal activity while the weak dollar led to gains in commodities, lifting shares of oil and mining companies. <.N>

FUNDAMENTALS
* Barrick Gold will issue $3 billion in stock to eliminate all of its fixed-price gold hedges and a portion of its floating hedges, taking a $5.6 billion hit to third-quarter earnings, the world's top gold miner said on Tuesday.

* The price of gold could rise as high as $1,600 an ounce as investors opt for assets with lasting value rather than volatile currencies, says one hedge fund manager who has increased his exposure to the precious metal.

* Gold could rise as high as $1,250 an ounce next year, after surging to 18-month highs this week, if faltering appetite for risk sparks fresh buying of the traditional safe-haven asset, a London-based fund manager said.

* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,077.63 tonnes as of September 8, unchanged from Monday.

* Gold could stay above $1,000 an ounce in the second half of 2009 due to a combination of rising investment demand and a weakening U.S. dollar, the chief executive of the world's No. 3 and Africa's top gold producer AngloGold Ashanti said on Tuesday.

* Canadian gold producer Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd said it has discovered a new gold and silver zone in Cubiro at its Pinos Altos property in Mexico.

* Indonesia's state miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk expects to sell more gold this year to compensate for lower revenue from its nickel sales, its president director said late on Tuesday.

* Barrick Gold Corp , the world's largest gold miner, has agreed to sell 25 percent of the silver production from its Pascua-Lama project in South America to Silver Wheaton Corp , the Canadian companies said on Tuesday.

TECHNICALS
* Gold support at $988, resistance at $1,008, RSI 14 at 84.2.

* Silver support $16.30, resistance $16.84, RSI 14 at 89.9.

* Platinum support $1,250, resistance $1,292, RSI 14 at 76.7.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.