SINGAPORE, July 15 (Reuters) - Gold hovered below its record high on Friday, after a nine-session rally pushed prices up as much as 7 percent, as the euro zone debt crisis and uncertainties around the U.S. debt talks continued to support sentiment.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged down 0.1 percent to $1,585.09 an ounce by 0047 GMT, after setting a record high at $1,594.16 on Thursday.
* U.S. gold
* Spot gold was on course for a 2.7-percent weekly gain, a second consecutive week of rise.
* U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke dampened hopes on additional stimulus in the near term, shaving off some bullish sentiment in commodities overall. But the intensifying concerns about U.S. debt talks are likely to drive investors to seek safe haven in gold as the Aug. 2 deadline approaches.
* The U.S. Treasury has warned that it will run out of money to pay the country's bills after Aug. 2 if the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit is not raised. Failure to seal a deal by then could cause turmoil in global financial markets and plunge the U.S. into another recession.
* Waning confidence in the strength of global economic recovery and persistent concerns over euro zone debt levels since January have prompted some leading analysts to lift their 2012 gold price forecasts, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
* Italy had to pay the highest interest rates in three years to sell almost 5 billion euros of long-term debt on Thursday, highlighting the growing pressure on the public finances of the euro zone's third largest economy.
* Amid growing worries about contagion of debt crisis, the European Banking Authority will publish results of its health check of 90 banks across the European Union later in the day.
* Spot silver gained 0.4 percent to $38.34, easing from a two-month high of $39.34 hit in the previous session. It was on course for a 4.6 percent weekly rise.
* U.S. silver
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as Bernanke backed off hints additional near-term stimulus could be on the way, removing a possible catalyst from a market already facing plenty of obstacles.
* The dollar held its breath in thin Asian trade on Friday after Standard and Poor's warned there was a one-in-two chance it could cut the U.S. credit ratings if no deal was reached on raising the government's debt ceiling.
DATA/EVENTS 0900 EZ Eurostat trade nsa, EUR May 1130 India M3 Money Supply 1200 U.S. Citigroup earnings Q2 1230 U.S. Consumer Price Index Jun 1230 U.S. Real earnings Jun 1315 U.S. Industrial prod/Capacity use Jun 1355 U.S. Reuters/UMich sentiment Jul-P 1930 U.S. CFTC trader commitments-futures Weekly <0#1CFTC00> 1930 U.S. CFTC trader commitments-fut&opnsWeekly <0#3CFTC00>
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0047 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1585.09 -1.66 -0.10 11.67 Spot Silver 38.34 0.16 +0.42 24.24 Spot Platinum 1761.75 0.95 +0.05 -0.33 Spot Palladium 776.72 3.99 +0.52 -2.85 TOCOM Gold 4033.00 -3.00 -0.07 8.15 41938 TOCOM Platinum 4535.00 -3.00 -0.07 -3.43 2998 TOCOM Silver 97.20 -0.80 -0.82 20.00 589 TOCOM Palladium 1988.00 -13.00 -0.65 -5.20 83 COMEX GOLD AUG1 1586.00 -3.30 -0.21 11.58 3823 COMEX SILVER SEP1 38.39 -0.30 -0.79 24.08 1334 Euro/Dollar 1.4162 Dollar/Yen 79.04 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 Himani Sarkar)