PRECIOUS-Gold ticks up on bargain hunting; Spain supports

                                
 * Gold rises in thin trade; watches euro
                                
 * For the technical outlook for gold; click on
[ID:nSGE64U00X]
                                
 * Coming Up: Euro zone sentiment survey; 0800 GMT 
 (Updates prices, adds graphic)
                                
 By Lewa Pardomuan
                                
 SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Gold regained some ground on
Monday, pushed around by a volatile euro, with worries about
Europe's debt woes underpinning sentiment after Fitch
downgraded Spain's credit rating.
                                
 Volume was thin as the United States and the UK are on
holiday on Monday but dealers expected bargain hunters to
support prices. Gold hit a record of $1,248.95 in mid-May on
fears euro zone credit problems were spreading.
                                
 Spot gold <XAU=> hit an intraday low around $1,209 an ounce
before bouncing to $1,213.90, up $1.15 from New York's notional
close on Friday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ0>
added $1.1 an ounce to $1,216.1 an ounce.
                                
 "There is a chance for some wild movements if you get a bit
of volume come in, but for the time being I wouldn't expect too
much," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec
Australia in Sydney, adding that bullion would be looking at
currencies for direction.
                                
 For a graphic showing the gold technical outlook, see:
 http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/WT_20103105093105.jpg 
                                
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings were unchanged at a
record of 1,267.930 tonnes as of May 28. [GOL/SPDR]
                                
 The euro inched up to $1.2325 <EUR=>, holding above a
four-year low of $1.2143 hit this month, but the currency was
still on track for its biggest monthly drop since January 2009,
while Asian stocks were eyeing their worst month since October
2008. [MKTS/GLOB]
                                
 Fitch cut Spain's credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on
Friday, saying the country's economic recovery will be "more
muted" than the government forecast due to its austerity
measures. [ID:nLDE64R1ZE]
                                
 "The question remains as to what will happen to this metal
in the currently opaque scenario," Heraeus Precious Metals said
in a weekly report.
                                
 "The charts are of little help at the moment, even though
gold finds itself in a short-term upward trend that could
theoretically see it touching $1,230 an ounce. On the other
side, it will get critical once the $1,200 mark is broken."
                                
 Oil prices rose above $74 a barrel in thin trade, although
worries about euro zone economic stability fuelled the worst
monthly loss for the commodity since December 2008. [O/R]    
 Precious metals prices at 0532 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg
Turnover
 Spot Gold        1213.90    1.15   +0.09     10.79
 Spot Silver        18.42    0.09   +0.49      9.45
 Spot Platinum    1558.95   17.95   +1.16      6.27
 Spot Palladium    458.25    1.75   +0.38     13.01
 TOCOM Gold       3584.00   19.00   +0.53      9.97       
27295
 TOCOM Platinum   4616.00   44.00   +0.96      5.36       
14068
 TOCOM Silver       55.00    0.00   +0.00      6.38         
430
 TOCOM Palladium  1363.00    0.00   +0.00     17.00         
513
 Euro/Dollar       1.2333
 Dollar/Yen         91.53
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
 (Editing by Michael Urquhart)