PRECIOUS-Gold headed for biggest weekly loss since early Nov

SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Gold traded flat on Friday as
uncertainty surrounding the U.S. budget talks kept sentiment
muted, while bullion was on track for a 1.6-percent weekly
decline - its biggest in four weeks.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold traded little changed at $1,724.56 an
ounce by 0027 GMT, headed for a 0.3 percent monthly rise.
* U.S. gold inched down 0.1 percent to $1,724.90.
* House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on
Thursday that "fiscal cliff" talks with the White House had made
no substantive progress and criticized President Barack Obama
and Democrats for failing to get serious about including
spending cuts in a final deal.
* Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of palladium
and nickel, expects the palladium market to remain in a deficit
in the next several years largely due to a near depletion of
Russian state supplies.
* Silver prices could revisit record highs next year, but
any gains will depend heavily on a rally in gold fuelling
investment as silver struggles to overcome a soft outlook for
supply and demand, metals consultancy GFMS said on Thursday.

* Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd
, the world's biggest jewellery retailer by market
value, said on Thursday it is targeting e-commerce as a pillar
of future growth after online sales tripled in the first half.

* Shanghai Gold Exchange said it will start a trial run of
over-the-counter gold trading on the China Foreign Exchange
Trading System on Dec. 3, allowing banks to trade amongst
themselves and in large volumes.
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks finished higher on Thursday as investors
bought on sporadic dips in a market roiled by conflicting
comments from Washington about negotiations on an agreement to
avoid the "fiscal cliff."
* The euro traded little changed on Friday, after retreating
from a one-month high against the dollar in the previous session
after Boehner dented hopes for a budget deal.

DATA/EVENTS
0500 Japan Construction orders Oct
0530 India GDP Q2
0700 Germany Retail sales Oct
0745 France Consumer spending Oct
0900 Italy Unemployment rate Oct
1000 Euro zone Inflation Nov
1100 Brazil GDP Q3
1445 U.S. Chicago PMI Nov
1930 U.S. CFTC commitment of traders data

PRICES
Precious metals prices 0027 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1724.56 -0.23 -0.01 10.28
Spot Silver 34.17 -0.04 -0.12 23.40
Spot Platinum 1606.00 -2.49 -0.15 15.29
Spot Palladium 678.90 -2.82 -0.41 4.05
COMEX GOLD DEC2 1724.90 -2.30 -0.13 10.09 30
COMEX SILVER DEC2 34.19 -0.16 -0.46 22.48 40
Euro/Dollar 1.2971
Dollar/Yen 82.04
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Himani Sarkar)