PRECIOUS-Silver falls to one-month low after COMEX margin hike

SINGAPORE, May 5 (Reuters) - Silver prices fell 1 percent on Thursday to a one-month low, after the CME Group hiked margin requirement on COMEX silver again, while gold held steady.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,516.29 an ounce by 0042 GMT, after falling for three sessions straight.

* COMEX gold futures edged up $1.30 to $1,516.60.

* COMEX silver futures fell 1.2 percent to a one-month low of $38.91. Spot silver fell by 1 percent to $38.92.

* The CME Group set successive hikes on COMEX silver futures margin, pushing margin up 84 percent in just eight days. [ID:nN04107715]

* As COMEX silver tumbled under the weight of surging margins, the iShares Silver Trust , the world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, experienced a near 5 percent fall in its holdings. [ID:nL3E7G44R5]

* Mexico massively ramped up its gold reserves in the first quarter of this year, buying over $4 billion of bullion as emerging economies move away from the ailing U.S. dollar, which has dipped to 2-1/2-year lows. [ID:nLDE7431OZ]

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MARKET NEWS

* Weak economic figures heightened stock investors' anxiety over the extended rally, knocking U.S. shares lower for a third day on Wednesday.

* The euro hovered near a 17-month high versus a droopy dollar early in Asia on Thursday as markets braced for more hawkish rhetoric from the European Central Bank after its policy meeting later in the day.

DATA/EVENTS 1100 Britain BoE rate decision May 2011 1145 EZ ECB rate Decision May 2011 1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly

PRICES Precious metals prices 0042 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1516.29 0.64 +0.04 6.82 Spot Silver 38.92 -0.42 -1.07 26.12 Spot Platinum 1823.00 5.75 +0.32 3.14 Spot Palladium 744.15 0.65 +0.09 -6.92 TOCOM Gold 4072.00 -15.00 -0.37 9.20 22271 TOCOM Platinum 4904.00 41.00 +0.84 4.43 3055 TOCOM Silver 118.70 1.30 +1.11 46.54 1953 TOCOM Palladium 2030.00 -17.00 -0.83 -3.20 197 COMEX GOLD JUN1 1516.60 1.30 +0.09 6.70 2377 COMEX SILVER JUL1 38.91 -0.48 -1.21 25.76 2687 Euro/Dollar 1.4821 Dollar/Yen 80.58 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)