SINGAPORE, May 4 (Reuters) - COMEX silver dipped 3 percent on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous session after CME raised margins for the third time in a week, and holdings in the iShares Silver Trust dropped to a 7-week low.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged down 0.4 percent to $1,534.75 an ounce by 0033 GMT, headed for its third consecutive day of decline.
* U.S. gold futures
* COMEX silver
* Spot silver shed 1 percent to $41.25.
* On Tuesday, a near 10 percent slide in COMEX silver led a commodity sell-off, knocking the 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index down 0.9 percent, its sharpest daily loss in more than two weeks.
* Further dampening sentiment in precious metals, latest U.S. data showed factory orders surged in March, a fifth straight monthly increase, indicating a healthy manufacturing sector well placed to support economic recovery. [ID:nN03300045]
* Holdings in the iShares Silver Trust , the world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, slipped 1 percent from the previous session to a seven-week low of 10,909.06 tonnes by May 3.
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MARKET NEWS
* The dollar hovered above a near three-year low against a basket of currencies on Wednesday, as the euro held firm against the greenback on expectations of further rate hikes by the European Central Bank.
* U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as investors questioned the sustainability of the rally in light of fresh worries about earnings growth in the coming quarters.
DATA/EVENTS 0758 EZ Markit Services PMI Apr 2011 1400 U.S. ISM N-Mfg PMI Apr 1400 U.S. ISM N-Mfg Bus Act Apr
PRICES Precious metals prices 0033 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1534.75 -5.63 -0.37 8.12 Spot Silver 41.25 -0.39 -0.94 33.67 Spot Platinum 1849.49 -3.82 -0.21 4.64 Spot Palladium 771.22 -12.47 -1.59 -3.54 TOCOM Gold 4072.00 -15.00 -0.37 9.20 22271 TOCOM Platinum 4904.00 41.00 +0.84 4.43 3055 TOCOM Silver 118.70 1.30 +1.11 46.54 1953 TOCOM Palladium 2030.00 -17.00 -0.83 -3.20 197 COMEX GOLD JUN1 1535.50 -4.90 -0.32 8.03 2351 COMEX SILVER JUL1 41.28 -1.31 -3.06 33.42 3789 Euro/Dollar 1.4825 Dollar/Yen 81.01 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 Michael Urquhart)