SINGAPORE, July 28 (Reuters) - Spot gold took a breather on Thursday after hitting record highs for two sessions this week, as sentiment remained supported by the deadlocked U.S. debt ceiling talks, as top leaders of both parties worked to hammer out a compromise.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,614.59 an ounce by 0027 GMT, off an all-time high of $1,628 set on Wednesday.
* U.S. gold
* Top Republicans and Democrats worked behind the scenes on Wednesday on a compromise to avert a crippling U.S. default, looking to salvage a last-minute deal from rival debt plans that have little chance of winning broad congressional approval on their own.
* With the August 2 deadline just days away, the possibility of a downgrade of U.S. debt has increased even if an agreement is reached.
* Adding to the safe haven demand, Standard & Poor's cut Greece's sovereign credit rating further into junk territory, saying the European Union's proposed debt restructuring would put the country into "selective default".
* Gold retreated from the record high on Wednesday as investors sold bullion to cover losses elsewhere, but sentiment in the precious metal remains bullish as long as the U.S. debt talks drag on.
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MARKET NEWS
* Wall Street suffered its worst day in eight weeks on Wednesday, hit by weak earnings, lackluster economic data and no movement in Washington talks as the deadline for a U.S. default looms.
* The euro struggled to find any friends in Asia on Thursday, on renewed fears of contagion in Europe, while the U.S. dollar remained on the defensive as Washington showed no signs of progress in debt agreement.
DATA/EVENTS 0800 Germany Unemployment rate sa Jul 0900 EZ Business climate Jul 0900 EZ Economic sentiment Jul 1230 U.S. Initial claims Weekly 1400 U.S. Pending home sales June 1500 U.S. K.C. Fed Survey 2300 S.Korea Industrial output yy Pre Jun 2315 Japan Manufacturing PMI Jul 2330 Japan CPI, core nationwide yy Jun 2350 Japan Business capex (MOF) yy Apr 2350 Japan Industrial output prelim mm Jun 2350 Japan IP forecast 1 mth ahead Jun
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0027 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1614.59 1.59 +0.10 13.75 Spot Silver 40.44 0.24 +0.60 31.04 Spot Platinum 1792.24 7.64 +0.43 1.40 Spot Palladium 824.99 2.34 +0.28 3.19 TOCOM Gold 4050.00 -9.00 -0.22 8.61 25156 TOCOM Platinum 4538.00 -25.00 -0.55 -3.36 3402 TOCOM Silver 101.00 -0.60 -0.59 24.69 423 TOCOM Palladium 2084.00 -18.00 -0.86 -0.62 450 COMEX GOLD AUG1 1614.90 -0.20 -0.01 13.61 2411 COMEX SILVER SEP1 40.46 -0.11 -0.27 30.77 543 Euro/Dollar 1.4372 Dollar/Yen 77.89 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by Rujun Shen;Editing by Clarence Fernandez)