PRECIOUS-Gold up 1.8 pct on options buying, physical demand

* Gold rises to 10-day high * U.S. believes Syria used chemical weapons but facts needed * Russia, Turkey raised gold reserves in March - IMF (New updates throughout, adds comment, market details) By Frank Tang and Clara Denina NEW YORK/LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Gold surged nearly 2 percent on Thursday, boosted by a combination of options-related buying, rising geopolitical tensions and strong physical demand after its selloff. The metal has now retraced around half of its losses after it fell a combined $225 over a two days earlier in April. Buyers have been scooping up gold at lower prices, reflected by the U.S. Mint's suspension to sell its smaller American Eagle gold coins after soaring demand depleted inventory. "Today's rally can mostly be attributed to options-related activities, and we continue to have strong physical demand, but I don't think it's enough at the end of the day to hold the market up," said Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC. Trading was active for both buy and put options around the heavily positioned $1,450 strike price as participants looked to profit after the rout that sent gold to a two-year low last week. Comex May options are set to expire after markets close on Thursday. Gold's gains were also fuelled by data from the International Monetary Fund showing Russia and other central banks bought gold in March, and by news that the United States believed with varying degrees of confidence that Syria's regime had used chemical weapons on a small scale. Spot gold earlier rose as high as $1,457.40 an ounce, its highest since April 15. It was last at $1,456 an ounce, up 1.8 percent by 12:47 p.m. EDT (1647 GMT), and around 10 percent above a two-year low of $1,321.35 hit last week. U.S. gold for June delivery rose $32 to $1,455.80 an ounce, with trading volume on track to finish below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Rising premiums in Asian physical gold and strong sales at U.S. coin dealers suggested bargain hunters have stepped up following the gold market's swoon. "There has been a massive surge in terms of physical interest in Asia - we had a record level of shipments to India last week, which was twice the level of the previous week," Standard Chartered analyst Daniel Smith said. Silver rose 4.1 percent to $24.04 an ounce. ETFs SELL, CENTRAL BANKS BUY Daily outflows from exchange-traded funds showed no sign of abating, suggesting that sagging investor confidence is unlikely to be restored any time soon after last week's sell-off. Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, dropped a further 0.4 percent on Wednesday from Tuesday to their lowest since late 2009. Russia and Turkey raised their gold reserves in March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday, which was ahead of the spectacular plunge in prices this month that shocked ardent gold investors and bulls. Gold came under pressure earlier this month after the ECB and IMF asked Cyprus to sell reserves to raise 400 million euros ($523 million) as part of a bailout deal, raising speculation other indebted euro zone countries could follow suit. Among platinum group metals, platinum gained 2.1 percent at $1,455.50 an ounce and palladium was up 2 percent to $678.97 an ounce. Prices at 12:47 p.m. EDT (1647 GMT) LAST NET PCT YTD CHG CHG CHG US gold 1455.80 32.00 2.3% -13.1% US silver 24.015 1.182 5.2% -20.6% US platinum 1461.50 30.70 2.2% -5.0% US palladium 681.55 13.90 2.1% -3.1% Gold 1456.00 25.20 1.8% -13.0% Silver 24.04 0.95 4.1% -20.7% Platinum 1455.50 29.50 2.1% -5.3% Palladium 678.97 13.47 2.0% -3.3% Gold Fix 1451.00 4.50 0.3% -12.8% Silver Fix 23.30 39.00 1.7% -22.2% Platinum Fix 1454.00 9.00 0.6% -4.5% Palladium Fix 679.00 3.00 0.4% -2.9% (Additional reporting by Lewa Pardomuan in Singapore; Editing by Jane Baird, Alison Birrane and Nick Zieminski)