PRECIOUS-Gold ticks up in holiday-thinned trade
SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Gold shrugged off a weaker euro to edge up in thin trade on Monday with much of Asia shut for the Lunar New Year holiday, while platinum and palladium hovered below their strongest levels in 17 months.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold had risen $1.36 an ounce to $1,668.25 by 0042 GMT. It fell slightly on Friday after gains in U.S. equities prompted some investors to shift to stock markets.
* U.S. gold added $2.20 to $1,669.10 an ounce.
* Hedge funds and money managers increased the size of their net longs in futures and options of gold, silver and copper as a more encouraging U.S. economic outlook boosted metals demand across the board, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.23 percent to 1326.89 tonnes on Friday from 1329.90 tonnes on Thursday.
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MARKET NEWS
* The euro dipped to a two-week low in Asia on Monday, continuing to pull back from 15-month highs following what markets perceived as slightly dovish comments from the European Central Bank and political uncertainty in Italy and Spain.
* U.S. crude rose slightly in early Asian trade on Monday, supported by indications of improving demand from China.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0745 France Industrial output mm Dec 2012 FRIP=ECI
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0042 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1668.25 1.36 +0.08 -0.38 Spot Silver 31.46 0.07 +0.22 3.90 Spot Platinum 1709.56 -3.44 -0.20 11.37 Spot Palladium 751.47 -1.03 -0.14 8.59 COMEX GOLD APR3 1669.10 2.20 +0.13 -0.40 1618 COMEX SILVER MAR3 31.48 0.03 +0.11 4.12 345 Euro/Dollar 1.3374 Dollar/Yen 92.71
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Joseph Radford)