* Gold slips in thin trade; watches euro
* Coming Up: Euro zone sentiment survey; 0800 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Gold edged down on Monday as
the euro steadied against the U.S. dollar, but worries about
Europe's debt woes still underpinned sentiment after Fitch
downgraded Spain's credit rating.
Volume was thin as the United States and the UK are on
holiday on Monday, but dealers expected bargain hunters to
resurface at lower levels. Gold hit a record of $1,248.95 in
mid-May on fears euro zone credit problems were spreading.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,211.00 an ounce by 0143 GMT,
down $1.75 from New York's notional close on Friday. U.S. gold
futures for August delivery <GCQ0> fell $2.6 an ounce to
$1,212.4 an ounce.
"There is a chance for some wild movements if you get a bit
of volume come in, but for the time being I wouldn't expect too
much," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec
Australia in Sydney.
"I think will be a wait-and-see approach," said Heathcote,
adding that bullion would be looking at currencies for
direction.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings were unchanged at a
record of 1,267.930 tonnes as of May 28. []
The euro was steady at $1.2282 <EUR=>, holding above a
four-year low of $1.2143 hit this month, but the currency was
still under pressure after the Fitch downgrade of Spain. []
Fitch cut Spain's credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on
Friday, saying the country's economic recovery will be "more
muted" than the government forecast due to its austerity
measures. []
Japan's Nikkei average lost 0.2 percent on Monday after the
Spain downgrade spooked global investors and sent Wall Street
lower. []
Analysts also expected volatile trading in gold, which had
attracted buying from investors worried about the fate of the
euro.
"The question remains as to what will happen to this metal
in the currently opaque scenario," Heraeus Precious Metals said
in a weekly report.
"The charts are of little help at the moment, even though
gold finds itself in a short-term upward trend that could
theoretically see it touching $1,230 an ounce. On the other
side, it will get critical once the $1,200 mark is broken."
U.S. crude futures were mostly steady just under $74 a
barrel on Monday in thin trading, with U.S.-based traders off
for the three-day U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. []
Precious metals prices at 0143 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1211.00 -1.75 -0.14 10.52
Spot Silver 18.36 0.03 +0.16 9.09
Spot Platinum 1543.00 2.00 +0.13 5.18
Spot Palladium 454.75 -1.75 -0.38 12.15
TOCOM Gold 3569.00 4.00 +0.11 9.51
17023
TOCOM Platinum 4553.00 -19.00 -0.42 3.93
8910
TOCOM Silver 54.60 -0.40 -0.73 5.61
271
TOCOM Palladium 1338.00 -25.00 -1.83 14.85
392
Euro/Dollar 1.2315
Dollar/Yen 91.41 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot
prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
