PRECIOUS-Gold steadies after rebound, ETF slips

SINGAPORE, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Wednesday
despite a slight drop in ETF holdings, with more poor data from
the United States likely to spur safe haven buying from
investors worried about the health of the global economy.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold XAU= added 75 cents to $1,230.00 an ounce by
0044 GMT. It had dropped to its weakest level in nearly two
weeks around $1,210 on Tuesday before bouncing to above $1,235
after sales of previously owned U.S. homes took a record plunge
in July.

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery GCZ0 fell $1 to
$1,232.4 an ounce.

* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD.P), said its holdings slipped to 1,297.948
tonnes by August 24 from 1,299.468 tonnes on August 19. The
holdings hit a record at 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29.
[GOL/SPDR]

* Indian gold demand slowed on Tuesday as the rupee
weakened, which made the dollar-quoted asset expensive. Sales
had picked up on Monday as overseas prices dipped. [GOL/IN]

MARKET NEWS

* The Nikkei fell to its lowest in 16 months on Wednesday
after the yen hit a 15-year high versus the dollar and U.S.
stocks hit their lowest level in seven weeks as a drop in home
sales rekindled worries the economic recovery was even weaker
than had been feared. [.T] [.N]

* The euro took a hit when Standard & Poor's downgraded
Ireland to AA- and warned the outlook was still negative,
fanning worries about euro zone sovereign debt and the banking
system. [USD/]

DATA EVENTS

0800 Germany Ifo business climate Aug
DEBUSS=ECI 1100 GMT U.S. Mortgage index
Weekly USMGM=ECI 1230 GMT U.S. Durable goods
Jul USDGN=ECI 1400 GMT U.S. New home sales chg
mm Jul USHNSP=ECI 1400 GMT U.S. FHFA home prices

Jun aUSHPRICEN N/A U.S. Build permits
R chg mm Jul USBPRP=ECI

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Precious metals prices at 0044 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1230.00 0.75 +0.06 12.26
Spot Silver 18.35 0.01 +0.05 9.03
Spot Platinum 1516.00 6.00 +0.40 3.34
Spot Palladium 482.25 -0.25 -0.05 18.93
TOCOM Gold 3344.00 1.00 +0.03 2.61
24664
TOCOM Platinum 4137.00 20.00 +0.49 -5.57
9145
TOCOM Silver 50.50 0.90 +1.81 -2.32
271
TOCOM Palladium 1318.00 15.00 +1.15 13.13
60
Euro/Dollar 1.2651
Dollar/Yen 84.30
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)