* Silver hits highest since early 1980
* iShares Silver Trust holdings hit record
* Coming Up: U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly; 1145 GMT (Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Silver jumped to its highest since early 1980 on Tuesday on inflation concerns, a rise in ETF holdings to another record and growing industrial demand, while gold hardly moved as the euro held below this week's five-month high versus the dollar.
In addition to rising investment demand for silver as a cheaper alternative to gold, an expected increase in physical buying from China was likely to support the metal, which gained 22 percent in the first quarter -- its ninth consecutive quarterly increase.
Silver , widely used in electronics manufacturing, rose as high as $38.73 an ounce and was quoted at $38.64 an ounce by 0301 GMT, up 22 cents.
"We do see a lot of demand for silver from China, so we think silver used in solar panels have increased. We think China will have a lot of demand for silver in the medium to long term," said Natalie Robertson, commodities strategist at ANZ in Melbourne.
"With China focusing more on renewable energy, especially after the nuclear crisis in Japan, they will probably be developing a lot more solar panels. Fundamentally, the silver picture looks very strong as well."
IShares Silver Trust said its holdings rose to a record at 11,162.45 tonnes by April 4 from 11,139.52 tonnes on March 24. [ID:nL3E7F5019]
But some analysts remain wary of silver's extreme volatility, which has led to some heart-stopping reversals in recent years. When commodities sold off heavily in mid-March, silver dropped nearly 5 percent in a single day, versus gold's 2 percent fall. For BUY OR SELL, click: [ID:nLDE7331DB]
Gold added 30 cents to $1,436.85 an ounce -- below a lifetime high around $1,447 an ounce struck last in March. Trading was slow, with financial markets closed in Hong Kong and mainland China.
"I think China has turned to silver jewellery since last year because it's cheaper. I do see demand for silver from China for jewellery and I also heard China is buying silver for hedging purposes," said a physical dealer in Singapore.
"Gold is very quiet, although I do see light physical buying from Thailand."
U.S. gold futures for June rose $4.5 an ounce to $1,437.5 an ounce.
The euro held below this week's five-month high against the dollar and 11-month peak versus the yen as investors paused to assess how much it can make in fresh gains given that expectations for interest rate rises have largely been priced in.
The Nikkei slipped on Tuesday with the mood soured by Tokyo Electric Power's fall to an all-time low, but was set to stick to a tight range for a third day as a post-quake rebound looks to have run its course.
U.S. crude oil futures slipped early Tuesday, but still hovered around the Monday's 2-1/2 year high as geopolitical risks amid fighting in Libya, unrest in Yemen and stalled elections in Nigeria continued to support prices.
Precious metals prices 0301 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1436.85 0.30 +0.02 1.23 Spot Silver 38.64 0.22 +0.57 25.21 Spot Platinum 1792.74 13.29 +0.75 1.43 Spot Palladium 784.25 4.75 +0.61 -1.91 TOCOM Gold 3905.00 28.00 +0.72 4.72 29054 TOCOM Platinum 4893.00 81.00 +1.68 4.20 10616 TOCOM Silver 105.00 1.90 +1.84 29.63 1880 TOCOM Palladium 2138.00 31.00 +1.47 1.96 175 Euro/Dollar 1.4197 Dollar/Yen 84.32 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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