NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters) - COMEX gold and silver were softer early Monday, but stayed near last week's highs with markets dulled by the absence of London bullion dealers for a two-day market holiday.
Britain's spring bank holiday on Monday was extended for a second day this year in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.
August gold was off 50 cents at 0934 EDT at $327 an ounce, trading $328.60-$325.90. On Friday August hit a contract high at $330.20 an ounce, while spot was fixed at its highest in almost 5 years at $327.25. There was no London fix Monday.
Spot gold was last quoted at $325.80/6.30, down from $326.40/90 at Friday's New York close.
Dealers said there did not appear to be any rush to cash in the massive long positions accumulated in gold and silver this year. Global jitters, a tumbling dollar, and producer buybacks continue have created a huge comfort zone for gold bulls.
"Everybody says 'the trend is your friend,'" said a bullion dealer. "At one point were going to have a sell-off, but at this point it's hard to buck the trend."
The Commitments of Traders report released by the CFTC after the close Friday showed the net noncommercial, or fund, long position was pared to 41,323 contracts from 46,914 in the week to last Tuesday.
But gold continued to climb Wednesday-Friday and small investors seemed to have been in the driver's seat for the last legs of the rally. The so-called "non-reportable" long position increased by 4,380 lots to 46,109, and is now more extreme than that held by big speculators.
"This odd-lot buying typically arrives in the late stages of an uptrend," wrote IFR/Pegasus analyst Timothy Evans a market commentary. "Overall, the risk of long liquidation is substantial and we'll maintain our intermediate to longer-term bearish bias on gold."
July silver was off 0.2 cent at $5.04 an ounce, trading $5.05-$5.01. On Friday it topped at $5.07, its highest since December 2000.
Spot was last at $5.03/05, up from $5.01/03 at the close. On Friday, London traders fixed silver at $5.045, a 23-month high.
The net fund long in silver futures grew to 49,506 contracts from 45,330 a week earlier.
"This is quite close to a full load, with further upward progress increasingly dependent on either attracting new players to silver from other markets or on making a fundamental case for short covering," Evans wrote.
NYMEX July platinum was circling the break-even level and was last $1.10 firmer at $547 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted $543/550.
September palladium was off $1.15 at $347 an ounce. Spot palladium fetched $341/356.