* Platinum, palladium off Tuesday's highs
* SPDR Gold holdings steady, iShares Silver inches down
By Miho Yoshikawa
TOKYO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose above $1,120 per ounce on Wednesday although a slightly firmer dollar versus the euro capped gains, while platinum was off a 16-month high marked in the previous session.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,123.25 an ounce by 0638 GMT, up 0.5 percent compared to New York's notional close of $1,118.10.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> were at $1,124.10, also up 0.5 percent.
Wong Eng Soon, investment analyst at Phillip Futures Pte Ltd, said he remained positive about gold's outlook for now.
"I'm quite optimistic on gold because ... although there are expectations that the Fed will be raising rates, the wording from the Fed's statement hasn't been changed yet, meaning that they'll still keep rates low (for the time being)," he said.
"I think gold will be quite well supported."
Higher rates typically boost the dollar and pressure gold, which is often used as an alternative to the U.S. currency.
U.S. December employment data due out on Friday, which is expected to shape the outlook for a rate hike from the Federal Reserve, remained a focus in the market.
In the currency market, the ADP's employment report and ISM non-manufacturing index for December were also attracting attention, along with the minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting, all due later in the day.
The euro inched down to $1.4348 <EUR=> after falling the previous day on dollar-buying as it failed to decisively break above $1.4450. [
]The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,128.745 tonnes as of Jan. 5, unchanged from the previous business day. [
]The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its silver holdings were at 9,488.81 tonnes as of Jan. 5, down 0.04 percent from the previous business day. [
]Platinum and its sister metal palladium maintained their recent momentum, but were off their highest prices in well over a year marked on Tuesday.
Anticipation of industrial demand spurred by Tuesday's data showing strong December sales by Ford Motor Co <F.N> in the United States had helped buying of platinum and palladium, which are used as auto catalysts to clean car exhaust fumes.
Strong economic data and any other indication of a robust economic recovery is likely to spur buying of both metals again, traders said.
Spot platinum <XPT=> was at $1,535.00 per ounce, up 0.4 percent from the New York notional close of $1,528.50, after earlier falling to a low of $1,513.50.
It hit a 16-month high of $1,535.50 on Tuesday.
Palladium <XPD=> was at $421 per ounce, up 0.7 percent from New York's notional close. It rose to $424 in the previous session, its strongest level since July 2008.
Precious metals prices at 0636 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1123.40 5.30 +0.47 2.53 Spot Silver 17.90 0.14 +0.79 6.36 Spot Platinum 1534.00 5.50 +0.36 4.57 Spot Palladium 421.00 3.00 +0.72 3.82 TOCOM Gold 3338.00 12.00 +0.36 2.42 53291 TOCOM Platinum 4554.00 67.00 +1.49 3.95 19364 TOCOM Silver 53.50 1.00 +1.90 3.48 916 TOCOM Palladium 1251.00 1.00 +0.08 7.38 662 Euro/Dollar 1.4353 Dollar/Yen 92.00 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Additional reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Joseph Radford)