SINGAPORE, July 29 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Friday, but still was headed for its fourth straight week of gains, as investors wait for a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives on a Republican plan to cut the budget as an Aug. 2 deadline for raising the debt ceiling approaches.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold inched down 0.1 percent to $1,614.29 an ounce by 0027 GMT, on course for a weekly rise of 1 percent.
* U.S. gold
* The Republican-controlled House has delayed a vote on a plan to cut the U.S. budget deficit to later in the day, and its expected demise could force a compromise to avert an imminent and unprecedented debt default by the world's largest economy.
* Investors have fled riskier assets in recent weeks as the euro zone debt problem remains worrisome and Washington has yet to agree on the debt ceiling, pushing the United States to the edge of a credit downgrade and a catastrophic default.
* The latest U.S. economic data offered hopeful signs -- jobless claims fell to a three-month low last week and contracts to buy existing homes rose in June.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings rose 1.5 percent to 1262.98 tonnes by July 28, from 1244.80 tonnes on July 27.
* Italy's borrowing costs soared at a closely watched bond auction on Thursday as investors worried by the euro zone debt crisis and the U.S. impasse exacted a high risk premium.
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks faded in the afternoon on Thursday to end mostly lower, with investors skeptical a key vote by Congress would lead to a deal to avoid a U.S. default.
* The euro stayed under pressure in Asia on Friday as worries about the euro zone debt crisis flared up following a jump in Italy's borrowing costs, while investors also kept the dollar at arm's length.
DATA/EVENTS 0500 Japan Construction orders yy Jun 0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy Jul 1130 India M3 Money Supply 1230 U.S. Real GDP Q2-Adv 1230 U.S. Employment costs Q2 1230 U.S. ISM New York Jul 1345 U.S. Chicago PMI Jul 1355 U.S. Reuters/UMich sentiment Jul-F
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0027 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1614.29 -2.06 -0.13 13.73 Spot Silver 39.71 0.05 +0.13 28.68 Spot Platinum 1783.74 1.99 +0.11 0.92 Spot Palladium 821.93 -1.82 -0.22 2.81 TOCOM Gold 4044.00 5.00 +0.12 8.45 26223 TOCOM Platinum 4513.00 4.00 +0.09 -3.90 2750 TOCOM Silver 99.10 -0.90 -0.90 22.35 208 TOCOM Palladium 2070.00 -4.00 -0.19 -1.29 88 COMEX GOLD AUG1 1613.60 0.20 +0.01 13.52 112 COMEX SILVER SEP1 39.77 -0.02 -0.06 28.54 358 Euro/Dollar 1.4317 Dollar/Yen 77.80 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by Rujun Shen)