* Gold cuts losses after Fed sticks to stimulus plan * Industrial commods down on U.S., China growth concerns * Coming up: U.S. productivity, jobless claims Thursday (Updates throughout; adds Fed statement, comments) By Frank Tang NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - A commodities selloff sent gold prices more than 1 percent lower on Wednesday, the biggest daily drop since bullion's historic decline in mid-April, although the metal pared some losses after the Federal Reserve stuck to its monetary stimulus plan. Silver and platinum group metals also trimmed losses after the U.S. central bank said it would continue buying $85 billion in bonds each month to keep interest rates low and spur growth, but added it could lift or taper this pace of purchases depending on the economy's path. Bullion had lost $225 per ounce between April 12 and 16, its biggest two-day plunge in over 30 years. Since then, strong physical demand around the world, especially in top bullion consumers China and India, has cut that drop by more than half. "I don't believe the fundamental reason of owning gold has changed one iota," said Michael Cuggino, portfolio manager at the Permanent Portfolio, which has $15 billion in fund assets. "You still have negative short-term real interest rates, and easy monetary policies around the world with liquidity being created," Cuggino said. Spot gold fell 1.3 percent to $1,457.90 an ounce by 3:11 p.m. EDT (1911 GMT). U.S. Comex gold futures for June delivery settled down $25.90 at $1,446.20 an ounce. Turnover was light given gold's moves. Trading volume totaled around 167,000 lots, about 30 percent below its 30-day average at 232,300, preliminary Reuters data showed. Earlier in the session, gold fell more than 2 percent - its biggest one-day drop since April 15, when it lost 8.5 percent. Industrial commodities tumbled, with signs of slowing manufacturing growth in the United States and China weighing on demand hopes and hitting gold's inflation-hedge appeal. After bullion's sharp drop, shops selling gold coins, jewelry and bars around the world reported an unprecedented surge in demand and mints and refineries were working overtime to keep up. "Some of that out-of-control retail buying has now been satisfied," said Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC. DIVERGENCE BETWEEN ETFS, COINS Gold's historic selloff last month has intensified a disconnect between funds that sold on dissatisfaction over bullion's underperformance, and individual investors who could not get enough physical gold coins and bars at bargain prices. In April, holdings at the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), SPDR Gold Trust , posted the biggest monthly outflow in tonnage terms since its launch in November 2004. In contrast, gold coins and bars, favorites among longer-term individual investors who want to gain exposure to the precious metal, soared after gold's spectacular selloff. Sales of American Eagle gold coins jumped tenfold year-on-year in April to 209,500 ounces, the highest level since December 2009, U.S. Mint data showed. Among other precious metals, silver fell 2.3 percent to $23.71 an ounce. Platinum dropped 1.9 percent to $1,475.50 an ounce, while palladium was down 1.3 percent at $685.72.
3:11 PM EDT LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL US Gold JUN 1446.20 -25.90 -1.8 1439.70 1477.40 154,179 US Silver MAY 23.305 -0.839 -3.5 23.230 24.275 1,619 US Plat JUL 1469.50 -37.70 -2.5 1466.60 1508.90 8,247 US Pall JUN 684.75 -13.05 -1.9 672.80 700.20 4,330 Gold 1457.90 -18.70 -1.3 1440.85 1477.71 Silver 23.710 -0.570 -2.3 23.260 24.340 Platinum 1475.50 -28.00 -1.9 1468.75 1505.50 Palladium 685.72 -9.28 -1.3 674.75 697.50 TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG US Gold 166,391 232,336 177,436 21.73 1.46 US Silver 57,116 76,292 54,882 29.99 -1.97 US Platinum 8,379 15,403 11,939 18.97 -0.01 US Palladium 4,576 5,225 5,105 (Additional reporting by Clara Denina in London and Lewa Pardomuan in Singapore; Editing by Dale Hudson, James Jukwey and David Gregorio)
