SINGAPORE, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Gold inched down on Thursday,
giving up overnight gains in thin post-Christmas trade, with
investors keeping a close eye on talks between the White House
and Congress to prevent the U.S. economy from plunging into
recession next year.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold had dropped $2.83 an ounce to $1,656.66
by 0025 GMT, but still off a 4-month low struck last week.
* U.S. gold for February slipped $3.10 an ounce to
$1,657.60.
* In a sign that there may be a way through deadlock in
Congress, Republican House of Representatives Speaker John
Boehner urged the Democrat-controlled Senate to act to pull back
from the so-called fiscal cliff and offered to at least consider
any bill the upper chamber produced.
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MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares were capped on Thursday on investor edginess
about the chances of U.S. lawmakers striking a deal to avoid a
fiscal crunch by Dec. 31, while the yen stayed under pressure on
the prospect of drastic monetary easing and massive fiscal
spending.
* U.S. crude futures remained close to $91 a barrel on
Thursday.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0500 Japan Construction orders yy Nov 2012
1330 U.S. Jobless claims Weekly
1500 U.S. New home sales Nov
2300 S.Korea Industrial output yy Nov 2012
2313 Japan Manufacturing PMI Dec 2012
2330 Japan CPI, core nationwide yy Nov 2012
2350 Japan Industrial output prelim mm Nov 2012
2350 Japan IP forecast 1 mth ahead Nov 2012
N/A Russia HSBC Mfg PMI Dec 2012
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0025 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1656.66 -2.83 -0.17 5.94
Spot Silver 29.99 0.02 +0.07 8.31
Spot Platinum 1533.92 0.87 +0.06 10.12
Spot Palladium 687.97 -1.54 -0.22 5.44
COMEX GOLD FEB3 1657.60 -3.10 -0.19 5.80 2331
COMEX SILVER MAR3 30.05 0.01 +0.03 7.63 149
Euro/Dollar 1.3232
Dollar/Yen 85.65
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Joseph Radford)