SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Gold edged down on Friday, heading for
its third straight week of losses as a brightening economic outlook in the
United States prompted investors to park their money elsewhere, but the metal
was off a two-month low hit at mid-week.	
   	
    FUNDAMENTALS	
    * Gold fell $1.79 to $1,655.94 an ounce by 0017 GMT after rising 1
percent on Thursday in a technical rebound. Gold hit a low of $1,634.09 on
Wednesday, its weakest since Jan. 16, after the U.S. Federal Reserve offered no
clues on further monetary easing. 	
    * U.S. April gold eased $2.80 to $1,656.70 an ounce.  	
    * U.S. economic growth showed signs of becoming more self-sustaining as the
number of Americans claiming new jobless benefits fell back to a four-year low
last week and manufacturing activity in the Northeast picked up this month.
 	
    * The British government said on Friday it would give local businesses money
to find new ways to reuse or recycle precious metals to make them more resilient
to fluctuations in supply and price of raw materials.  	
    * For the top stories on metals and other news, click, 
or 	
    	
    MARKET NEWS	
   * The rally in the dollar took a bit of a breather in Asia on Friday as
investors booked profits on recent chunky gains ahead of key resistance levels,
but the greenback's uptrend was seen intact amid an improving U.S. outlook.
 	
    * Japan's Nikkei share average ticked down in early trade on Friday, with
investors pocketing gains in exporters after their sharp rally the day before,
although robust U.S. economic data will provide support. 	
  	
    DATA/EVENTS	
    1000  EZ Eurostat trade nsa, EUR   Jan         	
    1230  U.S. Consumer prices         Feb              	
    1315  U.S. Industrial production   Feb              	
    1930  U.S. CFTC commitment of traders data Weekly      	
        	
    PRICES	
    	
  Precious metals prices 0017 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1655.94   -1.79   -0.11      5.89
  Spot Silver        32.45   -0.05   -0.15     17.19
  Spot Platinum    1684.74    4.86   +0.29     20.94
  Spot Palladium    703.00    1.95   +0.28      7.74
  COMEX GOLD APR2  1656.70   -2.80   -0.17      5.74         2227
  COMEX SILVER MAY2  32.49   -0.24   -0.72     16.39          293
  Euro/Dollar       1.3077
  Dollar/Yen         83.40
 
  COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
    	

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