EW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) - Midsession prices and market
updates for New York precious metals and copper:

GOLD

* August GCQ9 up $11.20, or 1.2 percent, at $976.80 an
ounce at 12:15 p.m. (1615 GMT) on the COMEX division of the New
York Mercantile Exchange.

* Ranged from $962 to $980.40.

* Goldman Sachs raised its oil price forecast for the end
of 2009 to $85 a barrel from $65 and introduced a new end-2010
forecast of $95. Crude oil CLc1 rose 3.5 percent to nearly
$69 per barrel. [O/R]

* Goldman said in a research note the recent rally in U.S.
crude oil is likely to be but the first stage in an oil price
rally that it expects will accompany a recovery in economic
activity. [ID:nL4422610]

* The Goldman view encouraged investors to reenter the gold
market after Wednesday’s across-the-board commodities sell-off
on fund selling - George Nickas, commodities broker at FC
Stone.

* Gold rose in spite of a slight rise by the U.S. dollar
and a drop in the bullion holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the
world’s biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund.
[ID:nT144303]

* Gold could weaken further, as the metal has corrected
sharply after it approached the $1,000 level each time in the
past two years - analysts.

* COMEX estimated 11 a.m. volume at 76,648 lots

* Spot gold <XAU=> traded at $976.00, up 1.4 percent from
its late Wednesday quote in New York.

* London gold fix <XAUFIX=> $970.75 an ounce.

SILVER

* July SIN9 up 45.5 cents, or 3 percent, at $15.765 an
ounce, rebounding from Wednesday’s 4 percent decline.

* Ranged from $15.065 to $15.775.

* COMEX estimated 11 a.m. volume at 22,944 lots.

* The holdings of the iShares Silver Trust SLV held
unchanged at 8,605.43 tonnes on June 3, near its record high.

* Spot silver <XAG=> was at $15.74 an ounce, up 2.9 percent
from its previous finish.

* London silver fix <XAGFIX=> at $15.305 an ounce.

PLATINUM

* NYMEX July platinum PLN9 up $52.50, or 4.2 percent, at
$1,297.00 an ounce, boosted by buying based on broad-based
commodities strength.

* PGMs buying increased after Goldman Sachs said U.S. auto
sales were likely to improve in the second half of 2009.
[ID:nBNG383125]

* The global car industry accounts for 60 percent of total
platinum demand for use in automobile catalytic converters.

* Spot platinum <XPT=> at $1,272.00 an ounce, up 3.1
percent from its late Wednesday quote.

PALLADIUM

* September palladium PAU9 up $12.65, or 5.2 percent, at
$255.25 an ounce, tracking platinum’s gains.

* Spot palladium <XPD=> was at $251.50 an ounce, up 4.6
percent from its previous finish.

COPPER

* July HGN9 up 7.05 cents, or 3.2 percent, at $2.2825 a
lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division.

* Range from $2.2080 to $2.2945.

* Estimated volume 12,653 lots by 11 a.m.

* Copper up in recovery from prior session’s sell-off, with
stronger tone in the energy and precious metals complexes and
encouraging data on jobless claims and business productivity
fueling the gains - traders.

* London Metal Exchange warehouse stocks <LME/STX1> shed
3,325 tonnes to 303,200 tonnes on Thursday.

* Canceled warrants — metal set to leave warehouses —
fell to 34,600 tonnes from 37,550 tonnes the previous session.

* COMEX copper stocks CMWSU climbed 784 short tons on
Wednesday, bringing total levels to 56,814 short tons.

* Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N: Quote) sees no sign
of recovery in the developed world that would lead to a restart
of its idled U.S. copper operations, despite a pick-up in
Chinese buying. [ID:nN03120647]

* LME copper for three-months delivery MCU3 closed at
$5,025 a tonne, up $110 from Wednesday’s closing level.

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