PRECIOUS-Gold steady; Bernanke speech, U.S. GDP eyed

SHANGHAI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Gold was steady on Friday,
after better-than-expected U.S. unemployment data helped ease
fears of a double dip, as investors expect a key speech from
Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and revision of the U.S.
second-quarter economic growth.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold XAU= inched down 29 cents to $1,234.65 an
ounce by 0033 GMT, after having hit a near 2-month high of
$1,244.00 on Thursday, heading for a weekly rise of 0.8
percent.

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery GCZ0 were
little changed at $1,237.3 an ounce.

* The sharper-than-expected fall in the U.S. jobless claims
sent relief to markets, after a spat of disappointing data
deepened fears of a double dip in the world's largest economy.
[ID:nN26186848]

* Investors are awaiting a key speech from Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday, along with an estimate of
second-quarter growth, which is expected to be revised lower to
an annual pace of 1.4 percent from 2.4 percent.[ID:nN26570206]

* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD.P: Quote) said its holdings remained unchanged at
1,297.948 tonnes on August 26.

MARKET NEWS

* The dollar edged lower against the yen on Friday, inching
back towards a 15-year low hit earlier this week, as investors
braced for a speech from Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke speech
later in the day. [USD/]

* The Dow closed below 10,000 on Thursday a day ahead of an
expected downward revision in U.S. second-quarter economic
growth and a major speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke.[.N]

DATA/EVENTS

1130 India M3 Money Supply INM3MS=ECI

1230 U.S. Corporate profits Q2-Adv USCPRF=ECI

1230 U.S. Real GDP qq SAAR Q2-Prel USGDP=ECI

1355 U.S. U.Mich conds/expec Aug-F USMSNP=ECI

1430 U.S. ECRI index Weekly USECRW=ECI

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Precious metals prices at 0033 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Spot Gold 1234.65 -0.29 -0.02 12.68
Spot Silver 18.89 -0.01 -0.05 12.24
Spot Platinum 1526.00 1.00 +0.07 4.02
Spot Palladium 498.00 0.37 +0.07 22.81
Euro/Dollar 1.2700
Dollar/Yen 84.37
(Reporting by Rujun Shen and Jacqueline Wong; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez)