PRECIOUS-Gold jumps more than 1 pct on crisis in Ukraine

    * Spot gold targets $1,377-technicals    
    * Coming Up: U.S. Personal income; 1330 GMT 
 
 (Updates prices, adds fresh quotes) 
    By Lewa Pardomuan 
    SINGAPORE, March 3 (Reuters) - Gold gained more than 1 
percent on Monday on escalating geopolitical tensions as Ukraine 
mobilised for war after Russia bloodlessly seized Crimea, an 
isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base. 
    The Group of Seven major industrialised nations condemned 
Russia's intrusion into Ukraine and cancelled preparations for 
the G8 summit, that includes Russia, scheduled for Sochi in 
June, the White House said.    
    Cash and U.S. gold futures hit an intraday high around 
$1,345 an ounce, with the United States threatening to isolate 
Russia economically in Moscow's biggest confrontation with the 
West since the Cold War. Crude oil, which often dictates gold, 
hit multi-month highs.  O/R   MKTS/GLOB  
    "Needless to say, if the situation is not defused, it has 
the potential to spark wider economic turmoil through higher oil 
and gas prices, trade sanctions and a general ratcheting up of 
global tensions that could endanger the fragile global economic 
recovery," said Edward Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone. 
    "All this means that gold will likely do better over the 
short term, propped up by both the geopolitical tensions, 
coupled with the increased odds that the economic recovery may 
now look slightly more precarious."  
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    For a 24-hour gold chart analysis:  
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    Cash gold    rose as high as $1,344.80 an ounce on 
speculative buying driven by the turmoil in Ukraine and stood at 
$1,343.64 by 0642 GMT, up $17.85.    
    It gained nearly 7 percent in February, the biggest monthly 
rise since July, mostly due to worries over economic weakness in 
China and the United States, as well as political and economic 
turmoil in Ukraine. 
    "I think there's short-term support for gold because of the 
turmoil. I am looking to find out whether it will break a 
previous high of $1,361.60 touched in October last year," said 
Joyce Liu, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.  
    U.S. April gold futures   , which often set the tone 
for cash gold, hit an intraday high of $1,345 an ounce and later 
stood at $1,344.50 an ounce, up $22.90.      
    The physical gold market got off to a slow start on Monday, 
with no signs of a pick up in demand from jewellers. Premiums 
for gold bars in Singapore were unchanged from last week at 80 
cents an ounce to the spot London prices. 
    "I guess the critical level to watch today is $1,350 an 
ounce. I haven't seen any buying or selling so far, and it seems 
everybody is having a slow start," said a dealer in Singapore. 
    Output of gold in Australia, the world's No. 2 producer, 
rose to its highest in a decade in 2013 as richer ores were 
mined to combat weak bullion prices, a survey released on Sunday 
showed.    
          
  Precious metals prices 0642 GMT 
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume 
  Spot Gold        1343.64   17.85   +1.35     11.51 
  Spot Silver        21.49    0.30   +1.42     10.72 
  Spot Platinum    1448.57    8.07   +0.56      5.93 
  Spot Palladium    741.80    2.55   +0.34      4.04 
  COMEX GOLD APR4  1344.50   22.90   +1.73     11.87        32335 
  COMEX SILVER MAY4  21.53    0.29   +0.00     11.15         8663 
  Euro/Dollar       1.3786 
  Dollar/Yen        101.41 
  
 
 (Editing by Michael Perry) 
 ((lewa.pardomuan@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 68703834)(Reuters 
Messaging: lewa.pardomuan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: PRECIOUS GOLD/