PRECIOUS-Gold tracks euro higher; palladium near 2-year high

                                
 SINGAPORE, April 15 (Reuters) - Gold gained to track a
firmer euro ahead of the release of China's GDP data on
Thursday, while palladium paused for breath after rallying to a
2-year high the previous day on hopes of improving demand for
autocatalysts.
                                
 FUNDAMENTALS
                                
 * Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,156.25 an ounce, up $2.35 an
ounce from New York's notional close on Wednesday. Gold had
rallied to $1,168.70 on Monday, its strongest since Dec. 4.
                                
 * Palladium <XPD=> fell $1.75 to $544.25 an ounce, having
risen as high as $548.50 an ounce on Wednesday on growing
demand by exchange traded funds.
                                
 * COMEX June <GCM0> fell $1.2 an ounce to $1,158.4 an
ounce.
                                
 * The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at a record of
1,141.041 tonnes as of April 14, unchanged from the previous
business day. [GOL/SPDR]
                                
 * Investors looking to preserve wealth from a global
economic crisis last year bought more gold than jewellery
consumers for the first time since gold was rallying back in
1980, a closely watched industry report said on Wednesday.
[ID:nN14165643]
                                
 MARKET NEWS
                                
 * The dollar was on the defensive on Thursday while
commodity currencies like the Australian dollar held broad
gains on a pick up in risk appetite and growing speculation
that China may soon move to revalue its currency.
                                
 The euro <EUR=> edged up to $1.3660, having risen nearly
0.4 percent on Wednesday, helped by short covering. [USD/]
                                
 * A slew of Chinese data are due on Thursday, including
first-quarter gross domestic product, March industrial output,
retail sales and urban investments.
                                
 * U.S. stocks notched a fifth straight day of gains on
Wednesday as stronger-than-expected corporate results and March
retail sales pushed the S&P 500 <.SPX> past 1,200 for the first
time in 18 months. [.N]
                                
 DATA EVENTS
                                
 * The following data is expected on Thursday <ECON>
                                
 - China Consumer Price Index for March   (0200 GMT)
                                
 - China GDP y/y                          (0200 GMT)
                                
 - U.S. Initial Claims                    (1230 GMT)
                                
 - U.S. Jobless Claims 4-week avg         (1230 GMT)
                                
 - U.S. Industrial output                 (1315 GMT)
                                
 - Phil Fed business index                (1400 GMT)    
                                
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 Precious metals prices at 0035 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg
Turnover
 Spot Gold        1156.25    2.35   +0.20      5.53
 Spot Silver        18.42    0.03   +0.16      9.45
 Spot Platinum    1723.00   -3.00   -0.17     17.45
 Spot Palladium    544.25   -1.75   -0.32     34.22
 TOCOM Gold       3480.00   -2.00   -0.06      6.78       
20160
 TOCOM Platinum   5167.00    3.00   +0.06     17.94        
6428
 TOCOM Silver       55.80    0.30   +0.54      7.93         
191
 TOCOM Palladium  1630.00   17.00   +1.05     39.91         
651
 Euro/Dollar       1.3658
 Dollar/Yen         93.37
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
 (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)