SINGAPORE, March 21 (Reuters) - Gold prices hovered around $1,650
an ounce on Wednesday after sliding nearly 1 percent in the previous
session under pressure from a firmer dollar on an improving U.S.
economic outlook and easing oil prices. 	
    	
    FUNDAMENTALS	
    * Spot gold was little changed at $1,650.90 an ounce by
0028 GMT.	
    * U.S. gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,651.	
    * Fear of a potential slowdown in China helped boost the
greenback the session before, sending gold lower, while falling oil
prices and more data showing the U.S. economy is on its way to
recovery also tarnished the appeal of bullion. 	
    * Permits for U.S. homebuilding neared a 3-1/2 year high in
February, suggesting a budding recovery in the housing market was
still on track even though groundbreaking activity slipped.
 	
    * U.S. Treasury debt prices posted modest gains on Tuesday,
though selling still pushed some yields to multi-month highs as
traders focused on the idea that a stronger economy could mean
quicker inflation and monetary policy tightening sooner than
expected. 	
    * U.S. crude oil futures edged higher on Wednesday after
dropping more than 2 percent in the previous session on news that
Saudi Arabia plans to pump more oil to meet any supply shortage
caused by the Iran crisis. 	
    * SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said its holdings had slipped 0.23 percent to
1,290.247 tonnes by March 20, the first drop after staying unchanged
for four straight sessions. 	
    * For the top stories on metals and other news, click,
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    MARKET NEWS	
    * The U.S. dollar started with a spring in its step on Wednesday
as renewed worries about Chinese growth saw investors dump commodity
currencies including the Australian dollar. 	
    * A warning about China's growth sparked selling in energy and
industrial shares on Tuesday, but the broad market's losses were
contained, a sign of resilience in U.S. stocks. 	
        	
    DATA/EVENTS	
 1130  India     M3 Money Supply                                   
 1400  U.S.      Exist. home sales % chg  Feb                      
 1400  U.S.      Existing home sales      Feb                      
 2330  Japan     Reuters Tankan DI        Mar 2012                 
 2350  Japan     Exports yy               Feb 2012                 
    	
    PRICES	
   	
 Precious metals prices 0028 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1650.90    0.87   +0.05      5.57
  Spot Silver        32.10   -0.01   -0.03     15.93
  Spot Platinum    1655.95    7.92   +0.48     18.88
  Spot Palladium    692.17    3.12   +0.45      6.08
  COMEX GOLD APR2  1651.00    4.00   +0.24      5.37         4737
  COMEX SILVER MAY2  32.12    0.28   +0.88     15.05          671
  Euro/Dollar       1.3250
  Dollar/Yen         83.60
  COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
 	
  	

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