SINGAPORE, June 9 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Thursday, as a weaker dollar underpinned sentiment and the euro was supported by expectations the European Central Bank may signal a rate hike later in the day.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold gained $1.39 to $1,538.19 an ounce by 0035 GMT, after dropping half a percent in the previous session.
* U.S. gold
* Gold prices have been moving in a range of $1,530 to $1,550 this week, with market participants seeking clues on U.S. monetary policy as the Federal Reserve's $600 billion bond purchase programme is due to expire at the end of the month while economic recovery seems to have stalled.
* Fitch warned it would downgrade the U.S. sovereign ratings to "restricted default" in August if the government fails to honor payments on Treasury securities due on Aug. 15. A U.S. default would have severe reverberations in global markets, said a top Fed official. [ID:nN08129613][ID:nN08255123]
* Investors are awaiting the rate decision by the European Central Bank later in the day. The ECB is likely to signal a July rate rise while continuing to provide banks with unlimited amounts of cash to help weaker lenders hit by the euro zone debt crisis. [ID:nLDE7550KT]
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks extended losses for the sixth straight day on Wednesday as investors worried that a slowing economy could deepen the market's retreat.
* The dollar edged lower against a basket of currencies , but was off a one-month low hit earlier in the week. The euro stayed under pressure, having been thwarted by solid resistance around $1.4700, but any signal of an imminent interest rate hike from the ECB could give the currency a fillip.
DATA/EVENTS 0500 Japan Consumer confid. index May 2011 1100 Britain BoE rate decision Jun 2011 1145 EZ ECB rate Decision Jun 2011 1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly 1400 U.S. Wholesale inventories April
PRICES Precious metals prices 0035 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1538.19 1.39 +0.09 8.37 Spot Silver 36.84 0.05 +0.14 19.38 Spot Platinum 1822.99 3.49 +0.19 3.14 Spot Palladium 802.28 3.10 +0.39 0.35 TOCOM Gold 3965.00 -8.00 -0.20 6.33 32702 TOCOM Platinum 4735.00 2.00 +0.04 0.83 3460 TOCOM Silver 94.70 -0.10 -0.11 16.91 502 TOCOM Palladium 2079.00 5.00 +0.24 -0.86 140 COMEX GOLD AUG1 1539.40 0.70 +0.05 8.30 1760 COMEX SILVER JUL1 36.85 0.23 +0.61 19.09 466 Euro/Dollar 1.4599 Dollar/Yen 79.95 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)