(Corrects to one-month high in headline and first paragraph)
* Longterm bullish trend intact - traders
* Gold may rise to $1,385-$1,390 range -technicals
* Coming up: U.S. industrial output, Jan; 1415 GMT (Updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on Wednesday just below a one-month high hit in the previous session, as investors stood on sidelines of a market with no clear trend for the short term, and with technical resistance seen around $1,375.
Inflation concerns continued to grow, as China reported elevated, albeit weaker-than-expected, consumer price index data for January, and inflation in Britain jumped to twice the Bank of England's target in January.
Rising price pressure has stoked fears that central banks might turn increasingly hawkish on interest rates, which could hurt sentiment in gold.
Spot gold edged up at $1,374.60 an ounce by 0703 GMT. It hit a four-week high of $1,376.50 on Tuesday.
U.S. gold futures was steady at $1,375.20.
"We are seeing inflation rise globally," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia, "The bullish trend is intact, although we'll see periods of weakness."
Technical analysis showed that spot gold is expected to rise into the $1,385-$1,390 range, as an uptrend has been established while the contract climbs within a rising channel, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
For a 24-hrs gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20111602095131.jpg
If gold could stand firmly above the key resistance level around $1,375, it could move towards $1,400, traders said.
"It's been quite a bounce, but there is some technical resistance right around here and we've seen a bit selling to take profit," said a Singapore-based trader.
"I do think the story is intact. Just right now, it's not particularly compelling."
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, slipped to 1,224.008 tonnes by Feb. 15, its lowest since May last year.
The unfolding political unrest in Middle East nations continued to attract attention of global investors. If the situation deteriorates, investors could buy more of safe-haven assets such as gold. Still, some market players said the influence on the gold market might be insignificant.
For a factbox on protests in Middle East and North Africa, click
Spot palladium was steady at $835.50 an ounce, after touching a ten-year high of $847 in the previous session.
Spot silver edged down 0.2 percent at $30.70.
The gold-silver ratio, used to measure how many ounces of silver is needed to buy an ounce of gold, rebounded from a five-year low of 44.47 hit on Feb. 14 to 44.76.
For a graphic on the ratio, click:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/AS/0810/RJS_20111602123005.jpg
Precious metals prices 0703 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1374.60 1.65 +0.12 -3.16 Spot Silver 30.70 -0.06 -0.20 -0.52 Spot Platinum 1828.74 1.50 +0.08 3.46 Spot Palladium 835.50 0.50 +0.06 4.50 TOCOM Gold 3706.00 29.00 +0.79 -0.62
49326 TOCOM Platinum 4968.00 -7.00 -0.14 5.79
13297 TOCOM Silver 82.40 0.40 +0.49 1.73
1590 TOCOM Palladium 2255.00 11.00 +0.49 7.53
481 COMEX GOLD APR1 1375.20 1.10 +0.08 -3.25
8237 COMEX SILVER MAR1 30.71 0.01 +0.05 -0.74
4090 Euro/Dollar 1.3555 Dollar/Yen 83.64 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Manash Goswami)
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