PRECIOUS-Gold down as technical selling offsets Greek hopes

* Gold down on technical selling as rally fizzles
* Analysts warn of pullback if euro zone debt crisis worsens
* Gold's MACD chart suggests gold losing upside momentum
* Coming up: U.S. consumer sentiment Friday

(Updates comment, market activity, adds link to graphic)
By Frank Tang and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell
on Thursday, as technical selling and nagging worries
about euro zone debt extinguished a rally that began after
Greece agreed to fiscal austerity measures.
Losses accelerated after bullion failed to breach 1,750 an
ounce, its early December highs and an area of technical
resistance in each of the last three sessions.
Analysts said a lack of concrete steps to avert a ruinous
Greek default and economic uncertainty in major euro zone
economies could keep pressure on bullion prices.
"We remain somewhat cautious on the precious metals group
here, as we could see a 'buy the rumor, sell the news' type of
reaction in the wake of the culmination of the Greek talks,"
said Edward Meir, metals analyst at INTL FCStone.
Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,728.84 an ounce
by 2:31 p.m. (1931 GMT).
U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled up $9.90
an ounce at $1,741.20 before losses gained pace.
Volume was about 20 percent below its 30-day average but in
line with its recent trading pace.
Gold has swung back and forth this week as optimism over a
bailout deal for Greece was countered by signs of economic
slowdowns in Germany, France and Italy.
"Gold prices remain hostage to shifts in investor sentiment
regarding the chances of a deal being reached. This uncertainty
is injecting greater volatility into the gold market," said
James Steel, chief commodity analyst at HSBC.
The metal was underpinned by news the ECB held interest
rates at a record low, adding to gold's inflation-hedge appeal
after the U.S. Federal Reserve said last month it would keep
interest rates near zero until at least late 2014.

TECHNICAL TREND STALLED
Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist of Merlin
Securities, said gold has stalled against December highs on
charts, and the MACD suggested that it is losing some of its
upside momentum in the short term.

"It's not bearish but the MACD shows that the rate of
acceleration has decreased," said Bensignor.
The Moving Average Convergence/Divergence is a technical
tool designed to identify changes in market trends by looking at
the difference between moving averages for two periods.
Gold is up more than 10 percent this year, and it has gained
more than $200 in the last six weeks, after the metal briefly
entered a brief market in December.
The metal failed to benefit earlier this week from jitters
over European debt, a sharp contrast to last year when
safe-haven buying sent gold to a series of record highs last
year.
Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.4 percent
at $33.84 an ounce. Silver has been one of this year's
best-performing commodities, up more than 20 percent this year.
Spot platinum eased 0.4 percent at $1,654.49 an
ounce, while spot palladium was down 0.4 percent at
$707.47 an ounce.
Platinum has narrowed its unusual discount to gold to about
$80 an ounce, from over $200 earlier this year.

2:31 PM EST LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL
US Gold APR 1741.20 9.90 0.6 1728.10 1755.50 146,478
US Silver MAR 33.917 0.213 0.6 33.675 34.450 44,132
US Plat APR 1667.60 -0.50 0.0 1656.10 1674.00 6,759
US Pall MAR 711.30 -4.60 -0.6 708.75 718.65 2,602

Gold 1728.84 -4.55 -0.3 1726.30 1751.40
Silver 33.840 -0.120 -0.4 33.690 34.400
Platinum 1654.49 -6.00 -0.4 1657.00 1668.00
Palladium 707.47 -3.03 -0.4 710.00 715.72

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG
US Gold 154,711 188,749 193,626 21.07 -0.14
US Silver 50,541 42,400 41,324 35.82 -1.25
US Platinum 6,829 6,843 7,514 19 0.00
US Palladium 2,742 3,895 4,680

(Editing by David Gregorio)