SINGAPORE, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Gold held steady below its record high on Thursday, supported by worries about the spreading euro zone debt crisis and slowing global growth, while holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust rose for a second consecutive session.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was flat at $1,660.95 an ounce by 0027 GMT, off a record of $1,672.65 set in the previous session.
* U.S. gold
* Gold has hit record highs in the past two consecutive sessions, as investors turned to focus on the gloomy global growth outlook, while the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone threatened to engulf Italy.
* The European Central Bank is expected to halt its rate hike cycle and probably signal a readiness to buy bonds again, when policymakers meet later in the day.
* Growth in much of the world's service sector was anaemic in July as firms around the world worried about the debt crisis in Europe and the U.S. as a well as slowing consumer demand, business surveys showed on Wednesday.
* Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose for a second day straight to 1,286.30 tonnes on Wednesday, highest since late December.
* The amount of gold held by the fund grew nearly 7 percent since the beginning of July, compared to a 6-percent, or 72-tonne, outflow in the first half of the year.
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MARKET NEWS
* The S&P 500 index rose on Wednesday, snapping a seven-day losing streak, but worries about the economy kept investors jittery and trading volatile.
* The dollar inched lower against a basket of currencies on Thursday, and held after recovering from a record low against the Swiss franc after the Swiss National Bank shocked the market with an interest rate hike.
DATA/EVENTS 0400 Japan BOJ rate decision Aug 2011 1100 Britain BoE rate decision Aug 2011 1145 EZ ECB rate decision Aug 2011 1230 U.S. Initial jobless claims Jul 30
PRICES Precious metals prices 0027 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1660.95 0.25 +0.02 17.01 Spot Silver 41.57 -0.11 -0.26 34.71 Spot Platinum 1783.00 6.50 +0.37 0.88 Spot Palladium 792.75 1.80 +0.23 -0.84 TOCOM Gold 4123.00 -5.00 -0.12 10.57 39421 TOCOM Platinum 4478.00 -34.00 -0.75 -4.64 5264 TOCOM Silver 102.60 1.80 +1.79 26.67 679 TOCOM Palladium 1990.00 -80.00 -3.86 -5.10 398 Euro/Dollar 1.4353 Dollar/Yen 77.08 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;Editing by Clarence Fernandez)