(Fixes typo in headline)
SINGAPORE, March 15 (Reuters) - Gold inched down on Tuesday
as declines in stock markets triggered by last week's
devastating earthquake in Japan prompted speculators to sell
bullion to cover losses, while holdings on the ETF slipped to
their lowest since May last year.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold lost $2.50 an ounce to $1,424.15 an ounce
by 0034 GMT, after rising as much as 1 percent on Monday as
Japan battled to prevent a nuclear catastrophe after the quake
and tsunami and on political unrest across the Arab World.
* U.S. gold futures for April hardly moved at
$1,424.3 an ounce.
* A fresh explosion rocked a stricken Japanese nuclear power
plant on Tuesday and some workers were ordered to leave the
site, a sign that the situation may be getting more serious at
the complex that was damaged by the massive earthquake and
tsunami.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust , said its holdings slipped to 1,213.655 tonnes
by March 14, their lowest in 10 months, from 1,215.475 tonnes on
March 11.
MARKET NEWS
* The benchmark Nikkei average fell 4.8 percent and
the broader Topix dropped 5.6 percent on Tuesday as
Japan continued to deal with the aftermath of Friday's
devastating earthquake and tsunami.
* The dollar fell against the yen on Monday and could test
its all-time lows as Japanese insurers and companies repatriated
funds to help pay claims and reconstruction costs in the wake of
the country's devastating earthquake.
* U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers meet on Tuesday and
investors will closely watch the Fed's assessment on
unemployment and the economy in general.
DATA EVENTS (GMT)
0000 Japan BOJ rate decision Mar 2011 1000
Germany ZEW economic sentiment Mar 2011 1145
U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly 1230 U.S.
Import prices mm Feb 1400 U.S. NAHB housing
market indx Mar 1815 U.S. FOMC rate decision
Jan <USFOMC=ECI
Precious metals prices 0034 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1424.15 -2.50 -0.18 0.33
Spot Silver 35.77 -0.08 -0.22 15.91
Spot Platinum 1748.99 -1.00 -0.06 -1.05
Spot Palladium 745.00 5.00 +0.68 -6.82
TOCOM Gold 3758.00 -13.00 -0.34 0.78 13498
TOCOM Platinum 4642.00 4.00 +0.09 -1.15 7383
TOCOM Silver 92.90 0.70 +0.76 14.69 727
TOCOM Palladium 1955.00 -29.00 -1.46 -6.77 265
Euro/Dollar 1.3992
Dollar/Yen 81.81
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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