PRECIOUS-Gold edges up on EU summit hopes

SINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on
Wednesday, together with equities, with investors cautiously
optimistic ahead of a key European Union summit later this week
where policymakers are expected to find a way to end the
region's two-year-old debt crisis.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,729.89 an
ounce by 0020 GMT.
* U.S. gold also inched up 0.1 percent to $1,734.
* Standard & Poor's fired a second warning shot at the euro
zone in 24 hours, threatening on Tuesday to cut the credit
rating of its financial rescue fund as European leaders raced to
find a political solution to their sovereign debt crisis.

* European leaders will discuss boosting the firepower of
the euro zone rescue fund at this week's summit, the Financial
Times reported on its website on Tuesday, citing senior European
officials.
* Household spending and exports kept the euro zone's
economy alive in the third quarter, the EU said on Tuesday, but
collapsing confidence points to a recession and probably gives
the European Central Bank ground for another interest rate cut.

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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as investors bet European
leaders would take strong steps this week to end the region's
debt crisis, including bolstering its financial rescue fund.

* Asian shares and the euro inched up on Wednesday on hopes
that warnings of mass credit rating downgrades will push
European leaders into coming up with a convincing framework for
resolving the euro zone debt crisis at a crucial summit later
this week.

DATA/EVENTS
0030 Australia GDP yr/yr Sep
0900 Italy Industrial output yy WDA Oct
1100 Germany Industrial output mm Oct
2000 N.Zealand Cen Bank Interest Rate
2350 Japan Bank lending yy Nov

PRICES
Precious metals prices 0020 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1729.89 2.24 +0.13 21.87
Spot Silver 32.58 -0.14 -0.43 5.57
Spot Platinum 1527.99 8.25 +0.54 -13.55
Spot Palladium 670.22 3.00 +0.45 -16.17
TOCOM Gold 4331.00 38.00 +0.89 16.14 24213
TOCOM Platinum 3845.00 47.00 +1.24 -18.12 4957
TOCOM Silver 80.90 2.10 +2.66 -0.12 154
TOCOM Palladium 1695.00 108.00 +6.81 -19.17 235
COMEX GOLD FEB2 1734.00 2.20 +0.13 21.99 1050
COMEX SILVER MAR2 32.65 -0.09 -0.29 5.53 461
Euro/Dollar 1.3402
Dollar/Yen 77.77
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)