SINGAPORE, July 7 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on Thursday below a two-week high hit in the previous session, supported by inflation concerns after China raised rates for the third time this year.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $1,526.71 an ounce by 2338 GMT. It hit a two-week high of $1,533.45 in the previous session.
* U.S. gold
* China's rate hike on Wednesday, the third time this year, made it clear that taming inflation remains a top priority even as the growth pace of the world's second-largest economy eases.
* Supporting the sentiment, a strike by about 8,000 workers at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's mine in Indonesia entered its fourth day, and is said to have paralysed production at the mine which holds the world's biggest gold reserve.
* The European Central Bank is set to hike euro zone interest rates on Thursday and is expected to show no sign of softening its hard-line stance that Greece must not be allowed to default on its debts.
* Investors are also watching two job market reports from the United States -- the weekly initial jobless claims and ADP employment report, which will shed light on the key monthly non-farm payrolls data due Friday.
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MARKET NEWS
* Transportation stocks were among the standouts in another flat session for U.S. equities on Wednesday, and the sector's rally could be cause for optimism ahead.
* The euro languished at one-week lows versus the dollar in Asia on Thursday, faced with little recovery prospect as worries about European sovereign debt problems outweighed a widely expected interest rate hike by the European Central Bank.
DATA/EVENTS 1000 Germany Industrial output mm May 1100 Britain BoE rate decision Jul 1145 EZ ECB rate Decision Jul 1215 U.S. ADP national employment Jun 1230 U.S. Initial Claims
PRICES Precious metals prices 2338 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1526.71 -0.79 -0.05 7.56 Spot Silver 35.89 0.04 +0.11 16.30 Spot Platinum 1725.15 3.55 +0.21 -2.40 Spot Palladium 764.60 2.12 +0.28 -4.37 TOCOM Gold 3984.00 31.00 +0.78 6.84 26578 TOCOM Platinum 4536.00 -21.00 -0.46 -3.41 2344 TOCOM Silver 93.40 0.40 +0.43 15.31 361 TOCOM Palladium 2005.00 -19.00 -0.94 -4.39 40 COMEX GOLD AUG1 1527.20 -2.00 -0.13 7.44 518 COMEX SILVER SEP1 35.96 0.04 +0.12 16.22 292 Euro/Dollar 1.4322 Dollar/Yen 80.92 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)