SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Tuesday after rising to its highest level in more than three weeks in the previous session, with investors still focusing on Greek bailout uncertainty.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold barely moved at $1,538.34 an ounce by 0019 GMT after rising as high as $1,539.50 an ounce on Monday, its strongest since May 4. Bullion is down 1.6 percent so far in May, hovering below a lifetime high around $1,575 touched in early in the month.
* Silver added 19 cents to $38.24 an ounce, but the metal is down around 20 percent in May -- its biggest monthly decline since 2008. Silver struck record at $49.51 an ounce in April.
* The European Union is racing to draft a second bailout package for Greece to release vital loans next month and avert the risk of the euro zone country defaulting, EU officials said on Monday. [ID:nLDE74T0LG]
* The Shanghai bourse plans to temporarily increase margins on gold and silver forward contracts on settlement at June 2 and trading limits on June 3, before the market closes for a public holiday on June 6. [ID:nL3E7GU06Q]
MARKET NEWS
* The euro rose to a three-week high against the dollar in early Asian trade on Tuesday as market players hunted stop-loss orders around $1.4345-50.
* The Nikkei average was flat on Tuesday as concerns about the global economy and weaker-than-expected industrial output data were offset by bargain hunting.
DATA EVENTS (GMT)
0500 Japan Construction orders yy Apr 2011
0530 India GDP 2010
0530 India QUARTERLY GDP yy Jan 2011
0600 Germany Retail sales yy real Apr 2011
0800 Germany Unemployment rate sa May 2011
0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy May 2011
1200 Brazil Industrial output yy Apr 2011
1300 Canada BoC rate decision 05 2011
1345 U.S. Chicago PMI May
1400 U.S. Consumer confidence May
Precious metals prices 0019 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1538.34 0.39 +0.03 8.38 Spot Silver 38.24 0.19 +0.50 23.91 Spot Platinum 1796.49 0.14 +0.01 1.64 Spot Palladium 758.22 3.07 +0.41 -5.16 TOCOM Gold 4010.00 10.00 +0.25 7.54 6608 TOCOM Platinum 4728.00 7.00 +0.15 0.68 1445 TOCOM Silver 99.50 0.60 +0.61 22.84 181 TOCOM Palladium 1977.00 0.00 +0.00 -5.72 35 Euro/Dollar 1.4339 Dollar/Yen 80.85 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Ed Lane)