PRECIOUS-Gold slips 1 pct after Fed raises discount rate

                                
 SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Gold dropped more than 1
percent on Friday, losing some of its appeal as an alternative
investment, as the dollar rallied after the Federal Reserve
said it was raising the interest it charges banks for emergency
loans.
                                
 FUNDAMENTALS
                                
 * Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,104.90 an ounce by 0048 GMT,
down $6.50 an ounce, having hit an intraday low of $1,098.55 an
ounce.
                                
 * U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJO> fell $12.7 an
ounce to $1,106.00 after falling below $1,100 an ounce as the
dollar rose to a 9-month high against the euro.
                                
 * The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,109.424
tonnes by Feb. 18, unchanged from the previous business day.
[GOL/SPDR]
                                
 MARKET NEWS
                                
 * The dollar leaped and the euro hit a nine-month low on
Friday after the Federal Reserve said it was raising the
interest rate it charges banks for emergency loans, stoking
expectations that it was moving towards normalisation of
monetary policy. [USD/]
                                
 * Traders say the timing was unexpected, although Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke had said last week the central bank could
soon raise the discount rate but stressed that would not be
akin to a tightening in monetary policy.
                                
 * Oil pared gains in late Thursday trade after the U.S.
Federal Reserve announced it was raising the interest rate it
charges banks for emergency loans. [O/R]
                                
 * U.S. stocks rose for a third straight day on Thursday as
investors viewed company results and manufacturing data as
evidence the economic rebound will continue. [.N]
                                
 DATA EVENTS
                                
 * The following data is expected on Friday: <ECON>
                                
 - German Producer Prices for January     (0700 GMT)
                                
 - French Business Climate for February   (0745 GMT)
                                
 - Eurozone Market Flash PMI for February (0858 GMT)
                                
 - Eurzone Current Account for December   (0900 GMT)
                                
 - Italian Industrial Orders for December (0900 GMT)
                                
 - UK Retail Sales for January            (0930 GMT)
                                
 - US CPI/Core CPI for January            (1330 GMT)
                                
 - US Real Earnings for January           (1330 GMT)
                                
 - US ECRI Weekly                         (1530 GMT)
                                
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 PRICES
 Precious metals prices at 0048 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg
Turnover  Spot Gold        1104.90   -6.50   -0.58      0.84 
 Spot Silver        15.82   -0.02   -0.13     -6.00 
 Spot Platinum    1506.00   -8.00   -0.53      2.66 
 Spot Palladium    426.00   -3.50   -0.81      5.06 
 TOCOM Gold       3269.00   34.00   +1.05      0.31       37725
 TOCOM Platinum   4431.00   29.00   +0.66      1.14     
  6843  TOCOM Silver       47.30    0.60   +1.28     -8.51
                                
 391  TOCOM Palladium  1253.00    4.00   +0.32      7.55
                                
  121  Euro/Dollar       1.3481  
 Dollar/Yen         91.77  
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.  
 (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)