PRECIOUS-Gold firms to 2-week high as euro debt worries linger inShare1 Share this digg Email Print SINGAPORE | Mon May 23, 2011 8:47pm EDT

May 24 (Reuters) - Gold rose to its highest level in almost two weeks on Tuesday on worries that Europe's debt crisis was spreading, sending euro-denominated bullion to a record above 1,081 euros an ounce.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold added $1.24 an ounce to $1,517.29 an ounce by 0032 GMT, having hit an intraday high at $1,517.74 an ounce, its strongest since May 11. Bullion was still below a lifetime high around $1,575 an ounce struck in early May.
* Euro-denominated gold hit a record at 1,081.43 an ounce.
* Silver was unchanged at $35.04 an ounce, below a record at $49.51 an ounce hit in April.
* Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Trust , rose 0.63 percent, while that of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York's iShares Silver Trust , dropped 0.15 percent from Friday to Monday.

MARKET NEWS
* Japan's Nikkei share average dipped on Tuesday on ongoing worries about the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis and after U.S. shares slipped to a one-month low overnight. The benchmark Nikkei fell 0.3 percent to 9,436.48.
* The British pound fell 0.3 percent in early Tuesday trade to an eight-week low versus the dollar as the U.S. currency was bought back broadly on worries about the euro zone's debt crisis. The euro also slipped about 0.25 percent to $1.4012 , edging closer to a two-month trough of $1.3968 hit on Monday.

DATA EVENTS (GMT)
0600 Germany GDP detailed yy Q1
0800 Germany Ifo business climate May 2011
0800 Germany Ifo current conditions May 2011
0800 Germany Ifo expectations May 2011
1145 U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly
1400 U.S. New home sales chg mm Apr
1400 U.S. New home sales-units mm Apr
Precious metals prices 0032 GMT Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg  Turnover Spot Gold        1517.29    1.24   +0.08      6.89 Spot Silver        35.04    0.00   +0.00     13.55 Spot Platinum    1754.24    5.89   +0.34     -0.75 Spot Palladium    730.00    2.01   +0.28     -8.69 TOCOM Gold       4003.00   19.00   +0.48      7.35        31337 TOCOM Platinum   4677.00   2.00   +0.04     -0.40         3937 TOCOM Silver       92.20    0.90  +0.99     13.83          558 TOCOM Palladium  1926.00   1.00   +0.05     -8.15          116 Euro/Dollar       1.4033 Dollar/Yen         81.90 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in per ounce. (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Michael Urquhart)