Gold eases, investors take profits after record

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold eased on Tuesday as investors took profits from the previous day's record high, but sentiment was underpinned by a weak dollar.

Traders said gold may slide as low as $1,145-$1,150 in a near-term correction, but the market was bound to recover given supportive factors such as the weak dollar, expectations for low U.S. interest rates and bullish sentiment after gold purchases by some central banks.

Japanese financial markets were closed for a public holiday on Monday.

"Gold is facing profit-taking as it needed some correction after hitting record highs in recent weeks," said a Singapore-based trader.

Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong, said people were buying on dips on expectation that gold would remain high.

"People are still hopeful...central banks will buy, and they don't want to sell their gold," he said.

He was referring to India's purchase of 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund, disclosed this month, which helped trigger gold's rise to successive highs.

Spot gold fell as much as 0.7 percent to $1,157.35 per ounce before recovering to $1,163.60 as of 6:47 a.m. British time, down 0.2 percent. It hit an all-time high of $1,173.50 on Monday.