* Euro, stocks rise to session highs after ECB comments * Bank leaves interest rates unchanged at 1.0 pct
* Trichet indicates no change to monetary policy
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Gold fell more than 1 percent on Thursday as the euro's climb to session highs after a European Central Bank policy statement and further gains in stock markets indicated rising appetite for assets seen as higher risk.
The euro <EUR=> extended gains after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet's non-committal remarks on further bond purchases were seen to indicate a retreat from quantitative easing. The bank held interest rates at 1.0 percent.
Spot gold <XAU=> hit a low of $1,214.65 and was bid at $1,218.45 an ounce at 1418 GMT, against $1,230.35 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ0> fell $9.60 to $1,220.30.
Trichet also said after the ECB decision that he expects the euro zone's economy to recover at a moderate pace, with quarterly growth rates uneven. [
]His comments further lifted stock markets, which had started to rise on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic recovery was on a solid footing. [
]"With growth potential back on track both in the euro zone and the U.S., risk could get offloaded from bullion, and that is potential a weakness signal," said Pradeep Unni, senior analyst at Richcomm Global Services.
The euro rose back above $1.21 against the dollar, with strong demand for Spanish bonds easing concern about the country's ability to finance its debt and a spike in Chinese exports boosting confidence on global growth. [
]Heavy losses in the euro on the back of European sovereign debt concerns have lifted demand for gold this year as investors sought to diversify out of the currency, analysts said. The euro's bounce higher has curbed this buying.
"If you look at a chart of the euro, it's been punished quite severely for some time now, and it is not unreasonable to believe that it will have a bit of a bounce along the way," said Simon Weeks, head of precious metals at the Bank of Nova Scotia.
"We are seeing an interim consolidation, with the euro recovering and gold down. Overall I would expect the euro to turn lower again and gold to turn higher, but it is not going to be a one-way street."
Oil prices also rose 2.3 percent on a combination of supportive export data from China, a drop in U.S. jobless claims and the dollar's weakness against the euro. [
]
COIN, BAR DEMAND SOFTENS
Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, at a record high 1,298.53 tonnes on Wednesday. [
]However, demand for small investment products like coins and bars has tailed off recently in Europe and the United States, UBS analyst Edel Tully said in a note.
"Physical demand, relatively dampened since Wednesday of last week, is now overshadowed by increased scrap supply out of Asia," she said. "This price-dependent supply... suggests more downside risk for the yellow metal in the short term."
Also on the supply side of the market, Statistics South Africa said the republic's gold output fell 6.2 percent in April from the same month of 2009. [
]Among other precious metals, silver <XAG=> was at $18.23 an ounce versus $18.07, palladium <XPD=> at $447.78 versus $447.50, and platinum <XPT=> at $1,539.30 an ounce against $1,525.
The ratio of gold to platinum -- which shows how many ounces of gold are necessary to buy an ounce of platinum -- lifted from the six-month low of 1.22 it hit at the beginning of the week, but platinum remains relatively inexpensive compared to gold.
(Editing by Alison Birrane)