SINGAPORE, March 9 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on
Friday, rising in tandem with other commodities and equities,
after a lower-then-expected inflation rate out of China
suggested more monetary easing could be on the way, while a
rebound in the dollar kept gains in check.	
    A string of data showed China's factory output, investment
and retail sales slowed in February, while the inflation rate
staged an unexpectedly sharp fall to a 20-month low, giving
policymakers room to further loosen monetary policy to support
slowing growth. [ID:nL5E8E90B1}	
    The prospect of ample cash in the market offset the appeal
of gold as an inflation hedge in the short term, analysts said.	
    "A lower headline inflation number means that the central
bank can continue to be very accommodative, which means printing
more money," said Jeremy Friesen, commodity strategist at
Societe Generale in Hong Kong.	
    "The more money it prints versus the gold out there, the
more it should raise the value of gold versus that money."	
    Spot gold inched up 0.3 percent to $1,703.89 an ounce
by 0742 GMT, on course for a 0.5-percent fall this week, its
second weekly decline in a row.	
    U.S. gold gained 0.4 percent to $1,704.70.	
    Technical analysis suggested that spot gold could rise
towards $1,712 an ounce during the day, said Reuters market
analyst Wang Tao. 	
    	
    Greece claimed a major success for its bond swap offer to
private creditors to avert an imminent default, though many
believe Greece's troubles are nowhere near an end as the deal
will not solve its deep-seated economic problems.
 	
    The euro edged lower on profit-taking while the dollar
inched up against a basket of currencies after the Greek debt
swap deal.  	
    "People are still worried about the economic conditions and
would rather not buy large quantities of physical gold at this
point," said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus in
Hong Kong.	
    Poon said that physical buying dropped after prices
rebounded above $1,700 as investors adopted a wait-and-see
attitude, especially before the release of the key U.S. non-farm
payrolls data due later in the day. 	
    Supportive of platinum group metals, February car sales in
China rose 26.5 percent on the year to 1.21 million, after a
23.8 percent decline in January, though the numbers might have
been distorted by the Lunar New Year holiday that fell in late
January this year. 	
    Spot platinum gained 0.7 percent to $1,668.99 an
ounce, and spot palladium lost half a percent to $695.83.	
  	
      Precious metals prices 0742 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1703.89    4.55   +0.27      8.96
  Spot Silver        33.90    0.05   +0.15     22.43
  Spot Platinum    1668.99   10.75   +0.65     19.81
  Spot Palladium    695.83   -3.67   -0.52      6.64
  COMEX GOLD APR2  1704.70    6.00   +0.35      8.80        16414
  COMEX SILVER MAY2  33.94    0.11   +0.32     21.58         2949
  Euro/Dollar       1.3231
  Dollar/Yen         81.65

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