SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Gold hovered just above $1,600 an ounce on Wednesday, unable to pull significantly higher from a six-month low hit last week as upbeat German data sapped interest in the safe-haven metal and the advance in equities drew investors. An ultra-bearish technical formation on gold charts suggested a pullback could be on the way, when on Tuesday spot gold was on the brink of forming a "death cross," when its 50-day moving average broke below its 200-day moving average. FUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold was little changed at $1,605.60 an ounce by 0031 GMT. It dropped to $1,598.04 late last week, the lowest since August, 2012. * U.S. gold traded steady at $1,605.50. * Optimism that the worst of the euro zone debt crisis is over has helped German investor and analyst sentiment soar to its highest level in nearly three years this month. * The S&P 500 index marched to its highest level in more than five years. It has climbed for the past seven weeks in its longest weekly winning streak since January 2011 and is up about 7 percent so far this year. That compares with a 4 percent decline in spot gold. * The Federal Reserve's latest monetary stimulus program is still appropriate through the end of this year given an anaemic labour market despite the U.S. economy's brightening prospects, said Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart, seen as a bellwether centrist at the central bank. * Investors will be focusing on the wording in the minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting due to be released on Wednesday to gauge the central bank's attitude towards its monetary policy, which has helped gold rally in recent years. * Anglo American Platinum expects operations at its South African mines to resume on Wednesday after workers staged a one-day walk-out following union violence at one of its mines, a spokeswoman said. * Spot platinum edged up 0.2 percent to $1,690.99 an ounce. * Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's top gold-backed exchange-traded fund, dropped more than 3 tonnes from the previous session to 1,319.964 tonnes on Feb. 19, the lowest level in nearly five months. * For the top stories on metals and other news, click , or MARKET NEWS * The yen held its ground against the dollar on Wednesday as doubts surfaced on whether the Bank of Japan will put into action bold plans to jumpstart the economy, while sterling languished at a seven-month low. DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0700 Germany Producer prices 0745 France Business climate index 0900 Italy Industrial orders 1245 U.S.
ICSC weekly chain store sales 1330 U.S.
Building permits 1330 U.S.
Housing starts 1330 U.S.
Producer prices 1500 U.S.
Consumer confidence 1900 U.S.
Federal Open Market Committee issues minutes from its Jan. 29-30 meeting PRICES Precious metals prices 0031 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1605.60 1.39 +0.09 -4.12 Spot Silver 29.45 0.03 +0.10 -2.74 Spot Platinum 1690.99 3.24 +0.19 10.16 Spot Palladium 763.50 2.28 +0.30 10.33 COMEX GOLD APR3 1605.50 1.30 +0.08 -4.20 2610 COMEX SILVER MAR3 29.45 0.02 +0.08 -2.60 1164 Euro/Dollar 1.3414 Dollar/Yen 93.68 COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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