PRECIOUS-Gold ticks up on U.S. fiscal cliff worry

SINGAPORE, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on Monday after
posting its biggest weekly gain since late August on safe-haven
buying driven by worries the United States could return to
recession if Congress fails to reach a deficit-reduction deal.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Gold added $3.03 an ounce to $1,733.94 by 0025 GMT,
holding near a 3-week high around $1,738 struck on Friday.
* U.S. gold for December rose $3.30 an ounce to
$1,734.20.
* Congress and President Barack Obama may return after the
presidential elections with a plan - perhaps a temporary fix -
to avoid the $600 billion in tax increases and budget cuts set
to start in January.
* The Agricultural Bank of China plans to launch
trading of precious metals overseas in the next year or two,
even though Chinese investors' enthusiasm for the metals has
cooled this year, a senior executive said.
* Comments by China's two top banking officials playing down
the risks of bad debt in the banking system provided the latest
upbeat comments from Beijing suggesting seven straight quarters
of slowing growth have ended.
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MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares were capped on Monday as investor sentiment
was weighed down by concerns over U.S. fiscal woes as well as
Greece's bailout, despite improving economic data from the
world's two largest economies, the United States and China.

* The euro held above a two-month low in early Asian trading
on Monday after Greece's ruling coalition secured enough votes
in parliament on Sunday to approve the 2013 budget law, but its
gains were seen limited ahead of a meeting by euro zone finance
ministers later in the session.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0030 Australia housing finance September
0700 Germany wholesale price index October

PRICES
Precious metals prices 0025 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1733.94 3.03 +0.18 10.88
Spot Silver 32.67 0.09 +0.28 17.98
Spot Platinum 1560.00 10.01 +0.65 11.99
Spot Palladium 605.00 1.08 +0.18 -7.28
COMEX GOLD DEC2 1734.20 3.30 +0.19 10.68 3010
COMEX SILVER DEC2 32.67 0.07 +0.20 17.02 587
Euro/Dollar 1.2717
Dollar/Yen 79.47

COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan)