PRECIOUS-Gold edges up as US debt ceiling talks progress
SINGAPORE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Gold inched up on Monday, reversing losses from the previous session on signs U.S. lawmakers were making progress towards an agreement on raising the country's borrowing limit to avoid a debt default.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,688.21 an ounce by 0043 GMT, after gaining 1.3 percent in the previous week.
* U.S. gold was little changed at $1,688.30.
* U.S. House Republican leaders on Friday said they would seek to pass a three-month extension of federal borrowing authority next week to buy time - on pain of losing their own paychecks - for the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass a budget plan that shrinks budget deficits.
* U.S. Senate Democrats for the first time in more than three years will pass a budget, a senior Democratic lawmaker said on Sunday, fulfilling a basic task that Republicans have been urging them to do.
* U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated for a second straight month to its lowest in over a year in January, with many consumers citing fallout from the recent "fiscal cliff" debate in Washington, a survey released on Friday showed.
* Italy's central bank cut its forecast for the country's shrinking economy on Friday, as tight credit conditions and a gloomy international backdrop darken the domestic outlook before a national election in February.
* Speculators raised their net long positions in U.S. gold futures and options by 8 percent on the week to 99,458 contracts in the week ended Jan. 15, said U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commision. Net length in silver also increased.
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MARKET NEWS
* The Dow and S&P 500 closed at five-year highs on Friday as the market registered a third straight week of gains on a solid start to the quarterly earnings season.
* The yen sank to a fresh 2-1/2 year low against the greenback on Monday with investors giving the currency a wide berth in the lead up to a Bank of Japan meeting that could see the central bank commit to aggressive reflationary policy.
DATA/EVENTS
0700 Germany Producer prices Dec
1600 Eurogroup meeting in Brussels
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0043 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1688.21 4.87 +0.29 0.82 Spot Silver 32.01 0.17 +0.53 5.71 Spot Platinum 1674.49 7.24 +0.43 9.09 Spot Palladium 720.75 3.03 +0.42 4.15 COMEX GOLD FEB3 1688.30 1.30 +0.08 0.75 3597 COMEX SILVER MAR3 32.03 0.09 +0.29 5.94 1054 Euro/Dollar 1.3305 Dollar/Yen 89.83
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Himani Sarkar)