SINGAPORE, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Gold prices traded
steady on Thursday, after a European Central Bank tender failed
to boost market confidence in the euro zone's ability to tackle
its debt crisis and knocked gold off a one-week high in the
previous session.	
    	
    FUNDAMENTALS	
    * Spot gold edged down 0.1 percent to $1,613.05 an
ounce by 0044 GMT. U.S. gold inched up 0.1 percent to
$1,615.40.	
    * Banks gobbled up nearly 490 billion euros in three-year
cut-price loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday,
easing immediate fears of a credit crunch but leaving unresolved
how much will flow to needy euro zone economies. 	
    * But the ECB tender failed to impress market participants
who doubted if such measures could help solve the euro zone debt
crisis, which drove Italian and Spanish bond yields higher and
the euro lower. 	
    * U.S. home sales rose in November, adding to hints of
recovery, but updated data showed the housing crash was much
deeper than previously thought. 	
    * For the top stories on metals and other news, click
, or 	
    	
    MARKET NEWS	
    * Technology shares slumped  on Wednesday and pushed the
Nasdaq down 1 percent after Oracle reported results that cast
doubts on the sector's health, even as broader markets closed
mostly flat in a thinly traded day. 	
    * The euro was on the defensive against the dollar on
Thursday, having shed all the week's gains as investors doubted
a massive 489 billion euro tender by the European Central Bank
(ECB) would solve the EU debt crisis. 	
    	
    DATA/EVENTS	
 0900 U.K.   Final GDP                                 Q3
 1330 U.S.   Final GDP                                 Q3
 1330 U.S.   Weekly jobless claims
 1330 U.S.   Chicago Fed Nat'l Activity Index          Nov
 1455        Thomson Reuters/UMich consumer sentiment  Dec
      Italy  Austerity vote
    	
    PRICES	
 Precious metals prices 0044 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1613.05   -1.74   -0.11     13.64
  Spot Silver        29.29   -0.06   -0.20     -5.09
  Spot Platinum    1422.00   -1.49   -0.10    -19.55
  Spot Palladium    629.00   -2.47   -0.39    -21.33
  TOCOM Gold       4054.00  -14.00   -0.34      8.72        26634
  TOCOM Platinum   3603.00  -25.00   -0.69    -23.28         4104
  TOCOM Silver       72.60   -0.70   -0.95    -10.37          142
  TOCOM Palladium  1581.00    5.00   +0.32    -24.61          107
  COMEX GOLD FEB2  1615.40    1.80   +0.11     13.65         1736
  COMEX SILVER MAR2  29.30    0.05   +0.17     -5.30          170
  Euro/Dollar       1.3037
  Dollar/Yen         78.08
  TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
  COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
 	

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