SINGAPORE, April 14 (Reuters) - Gold extended gains on Thursday as the U.S. dollar held near a 16-month low against a basket of currencies, while declines in ETF holdings suggested investors were still keen to book profits after bullion struck a record high earlier this week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold rose $1.78 to $1,456.39 an ounce by 0035 GMT. Gold hit a record above $1,476 an ounce on Monday on hopes the U.S. dollar would stay weak and that the Federal Reserve would stick to its super-easy monetary policy.
* Gold's decade-long price rally could take the metal above $1,600 an ounce by year-end, metals consultancy GFMS said in a widely anticipated industry report on Wednesday, as investor appetite for gold sharpens further. [ID:nLDE73C1Q0]
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings extended losses and fell to 1,212.964 tonnes by April 13, their lowest in a week, from 1,216.299 tonnes on April 12.
* IShares Silver Trust said its holdings slipped to 10,969.71 tonnes by April 13 from 11,212.53 tonnes on April 12, and a record of 11,242.89 tonnes hit on April 8.
* Spot silver hardly changed at $40.52 an ounce, still below a 31-year high at $41.93 struck on Monday.
* U.S. gold futures for June rose $2.8 an ounce $1,458.4 an ounce.
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar held near the previous day's 16-month low against a basket of currencies on Thursday as mixed U.S. data did nothing to change the view that the Federal Reserve would stick to its super-easy monetary policy.
* Japan's Nikkei average inched lower on Thursday and is expected to trade in a tight range in low volume for the rest of the day with tech shares poised to outperform after their U.S. peers posted strong gains overnight.
* U.S. crude futures firmed on Thursday after data showing U.S. gasoline stockpiles plunged last week and lingering worries about the Libyan conflict helped their rebound from below $106 per barrel the previous day.
DATA EVENTS (GMT)
1230 U.S. Producer Prices March
1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly Precious metals prices 0035 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1456.39 1.78 +0.12 2.60 Spot Silver 40.52 -0.10 -0.25 31.30 Spot Platinum 1773.24 4.09 +0.23 0.32 Spot Palladium 761.72 1.09 +0.14 -4.73 TOCOM Gold 3934.00 -15.00 -0.38 5.50 25184 TOCOM Platinum 4806.00 -29.00 -0.60 2.34 4436 TOCOM Silver 109.20 -0.20 -0.18 34.81 723 TOCOM Palladium 2062.00 -18.00 -0.87 -1.67 76 Euro/Dollar 1.4419 Dollar/Yen 83.79 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Ed Lane)
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