PRECIOUS-Gold steadies around $940/oz, ETF unchanged

                                
 * Buying checked as currencies confined to narrow ranges
                                
 * SPDR gold ETF holdings <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> unchanged
                                
 By Risa Maeda
                                
 TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) - Gold kept climbing for the third
straight session on Thursday, though it struggled to rise
decisively above $940 per ounce as a halt in the slide of the
dollar curbed buying.
                                
 On Wednesday, gold rose as the dollar fell versus most other
major currencies after an unexpectedly small rise in U.S.
inflation and a debt rating downgrade for U.S. banks from
Standard & Poor's. [ID:nN17353623]
                                
 But the U.S. currency barely moved from late U.S. levels on
Thursday, providing little further direction for gold. [USD/]
                                
 Investors were reluctant to trade currencies actively before
hearing the Federal Reserve's stance on rate moves and bond
buying at its two-day meeting next week after a spike in
long-term yields this month.
                                
 Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.1 percent to $939.55 per ounce at
0324 GMT from New York's notional close of $938.40.
                                
 It earlier rose as high as $942.70, a level last seen on June
12 and up almost 2 percent from this week's trough of $925.50.
                                
 The dollar's recent strength has hurt gold's allure as a
hedge against the U.S. currency, sending bullion prices falling
from a three-month high around $990 an ounce reached two weeks
earlier.
                                
 "People have got used to following after the currency
markets. Now that the currency markets are caught in narrow
ranges, so is the gold market," said Yuichi Ikemizu, Tokyo branch
manager at Standard Bank Plc.
                                
 U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ9> were at $940.60
per ounce, up 0.5 percent from Wednesday's settlement of $936 on
the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
                                
 But gold was seen as firmly underpinned after a fall below
$930 earlier this week that was short-lived due to physical
buying by retail investors mainly from South East Asia.
                                
 "The downside risk seems to be receding after a fall below
$930 encouraged the restart of physical buying. But I don't think
gold is buoyant enough to challenge a level above $950 for now,"
Ikemizu said.
                                
 In Tokyo, scattered investor buying of gold bars emerged
earlier this week, but that was not enough to totally offset
physical selling to lock in profits, traders said.
                                
 Demand from investors seeking alternatives to conventional
assets stayed weak. The world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its
holdings stood at 1,132.15 tonnes on June 17, unchanged since
June 5. [GOL/SPDR]
 Precious metals prices at 0333 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg  Turnover
 Spot Gold         939.10    0.70   +0.07     12.78
 Spot Silver        14.36    0.04   +0.28     -2.78
 Spot Platinum    1210.50    9.50   +0.79    -20.36
 Spot Palladium    241.50    1.00   +0.42    -34.38
 TOCOM Gold       2905.00  -19.00   -0.65     -5.07        27596
 TOCOM Platinum   3749.00  -58.00   -1.52    -29.78        11373
 TOCOM Silver      441.10   -1.20   -0.27    -18.47          204
 TOCOM Palladium   755.00  -12.00   -1.56    -44.12          182
 Euro/Dollar       1.3949
 Dollar/Yen         95.80
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams.  Spot prices in $ per ounce.
 (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Hugh Lawson)