SINGAPORE, March 20 (Reuters) - Spot gold edged up on
Tuesday, extending gains into a fourth consecutive session, as a
weaker dollar helped support prices.	
        	
    FUNDAMENTALS	
    * Spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,662.85 an
ounce by 0045 GMT, on course for its fourth session of straight
gains.	
    * U.S. gold inched down 0.3 percent to $1,663.20.	
    * The U.S. Federal Reserve has not yet decided whether to
embark on a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, though
it remains an option, an influential Fed official said on
Monday. 	
    * The U.S. data continued to show signs of a steady
recovery. U.S. homebuilder sentiment was unchanged in March to
hold at the highest level since June 2007, and the Chicago
Federal Reserve Bank's Midwest manufacturing index edged up in
January from December.  	
    * The S&P 500 stood at its highest level since May 2008 and
10 percent below the record close set in October 2007.
 	
    * Jewellers in India plan to close shops for two more days,
continuing their protest against the duty increase on gold
imports announced by the government last Friday. 	
    * SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said its gold holdings stayed unchanged at
1,293.268 tonnes for the fifth straight session on Monday,
despite the sharp pull-back in prices last week. 	
    * Global photovoltaic solar installations jumped 40 percent
to a record 27.4 gigawatts, helped by a late surge of activity
ahead of subsidy cuts, according to a report by consultancy NPD
Solarbuzz issued on Monday. 	
    * Spot silver fell 1 percent to $32.86, wiping out
gains from the previous session.	
    * For the top stories on metals and other news, click
, or 	
    	
    MARKET NEWS	
    * The S&P 500 extended its rally on Monday to climb within
10 percent of its historic closing high, after Apple said it
would pay a $10 billion annual dividend and buy back stock. 	
    * The dollar edged lower against a basket of currencies and
the euro hovered below a more than one-week high hit in the
previous session, after an orderly auction of Greek default
insurance supported views that Greece's threat to the euro zone
has diminished. 	
    	
    DATA/EVENTS	
 1145  U.S.      ICSC chain stores yy     Weekly                   
 1230  U.S.      Build permits: change mm Dec                      
 1230  U.S.      House starts mm: change  Dec                      
 1230  U.S.      Housing starts number mm Feb                      
    	
    PRICES	
    Precious metals prices 0045 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1662.85    2.45   +0.15      6.33
  Spot Silver        32.86   -0.36   -1.08     18.67
  Spot Platinum    1672.78   -1.75   -0.10     20.08
  Spot Palladium    701.78   -0.15   -0.02      7.55
  COMEX GOLD APR2  1663.20   -4.10   -0.25      6.15         2376
  COMEX SILVER MAY2  32.89   -0.06   -0.20     17.82          396
  Euro/Dollar       1.3235
  Dollar/Yen         83.35
  COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

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