based on its wave pattern and a Fibonacci projection analysis,
said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and
energy technicals.	

SINGAPORE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Gold was barely changed on
Wednesday, after rising 1 percent in the previous session, as
investors and other physical buyers in Asia hugged the sidelines
following China's second interest rate increase in just over six
weeks.	

 But gold's ability to break above the 100-day moving average
raised the prospect of more gains in coming days, which could
lift silver, platinum and palladium. Bullion was well below a
lifetime high around $1,430 an ounce hit in December. 	

 Spot gold hardly moved at $1,363.70 an ounce by 0520
GMT. It had risen as high as $1,367.83 on Tuesday, its strongest
since late January.	

  " I think we could look for further gains in gold on

follow-through strength,"  said Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst
at Phillip Futures in Singapore. " Investors were already
expecting that China would raise interest rates sometimes during
this Lunar New Year holiday." 	

 U.S. gold futures for April was steady at $1,364.5 an
ounce.	

 China raised interest rates on Tuesday as it intensified a
battle against stubbornly high inflation that threatens to
unsettle global markets. 	

  The timing was a surprise, coming on the final day of the
Lunar New Year holiday, but investors have long expected more
monetary tightening as Beijing struggles to rein in price
pressures and ward off a property bubble in an economy that grew
at a double-digit pace last year. 	

  In theory, a tightening in China could put pressure on
demand for industrial metals and gold, but dealers said the
bullion market was still digesting the news.	

 Spot gold may rebound further to $1,384 an ounce,
based on its wave pattern and a Fibonacci projection analysis,
said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and
energy technicals.	

  " I think the price is on the higher end after the rebound.
That's why we don't see much activity. We have to see if China
is going to come back and buy,"  said a dealer in Hong Kong.	

 " It looks like ETF holdings are continuing to fall. We have
to see if people are shifting to the stock market because the
economy is recovering. The stock market is more attractive than
gold."  	

 Shares in Asian developed markets rose and the dollar and
Swiss franc eased on Wednesday, as investors bet that China's
latest interest rate rise would not damp a sustained economic
recovery. 	

 The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust , said its holdings slipped 1,228.560 tonnes by
Feb. 8 from 1,228.864 tonnes on Feb. 4. 	

 " We saw good physical buying from Indonesia yesterday due to
a firmer rupiah,"  said a dealer in Singapore.	

 " But today is a different picture. It's very quiet
everywhere and no one is willing to sell. The premium is trading
at $1.60 for new indent,"  he said.	

 Dealers in Singapore offered premiums at as high as $1.9 an
ounce to the spot London futures on Tuesday.  


  

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Gold inched higher on Tuesday as
equities fell, the euro picked up and flows of metal out of
exchange-traded funds stabilised, although a rise in Chinese
benchmark rates limited gains.

 The gold price came under intense pressure last week after
more signs emerged that global growth continues to improve and
that the euro zone debt crisis has not worsened, which eroded
some investor appetite for the metal.

 Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1 percent at $1,351.95 an ounce by
1207 GMT, set for a second consecutive weekly rise but still 5
percent below record highs struck in mid-December.

 U.S. April gold futures GCJ1 were up 0.3 percent at
$1,352.50 an ounce.

 China's central bank raised interest rates by a quarter
point to 6.06 percent, its second increase in just over a month
as it steps up its fight against stubbornly high inflation.

 " Chinese investment or jewellery buying has been pretty
strong over the last quarter, and I wouldn't have thought that
it is going to slow down particularly,"  said Societe Generale
analyst David Wilson.

 " Gold is getting some support from nervousness about
northern Africa and the Middle East, and obviously still
bubbling in the background are concerns about Europe,"  he said.

 EGYPT UNREST CONTINUES

 Political turmoil in Egypt, where protesters called for a
fresh push to eject President Hosni Mubarak from power, has
unsettled the investment community and pushed the oil price
above $100 a barrel. 

 " While the euro debt crisis is not in people's minds, the
situation in the Middle East has become more important, so that
will prevent investors from making any big sales,"  said LBBW
commodities strategist Thorsten Proettel.

 " The SPDR holdings have been nearly unchanged, and
profit-taking from investors has perhaps stopped for the
moment,"  he said.

 Since protesters took to the streets of Cairo and other
major Egyptian cities in late January, the gold price has risen
by over 3 percent, although much of the potential for safe-haven
buying has been undermined by a rally in riskier assets, with
the S& P 500 .SPX up 2 percent and the copper price CMCU3 up
over 6 percent in the same period of time.

 Holdings of metal in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) have risen by
1 tonne in the past week to 1,228.864 tonnes.

 In January the fund registered its largestly monthly outflow
of metal since April 2008 as investors favoured equities and
industrial commodities over perceived safe-havens such as gold.

 The euro backed off session highs aginst the dollar after a
reading of German industrial output fell shy of expectations,
while the Australian dollar AUD=D4 slipped after the rise in
Chinese interest rates reinforced fears that growth in the
world's second-largest economy may slow. [FRX/]

 European shares .FTEU3 fell by half a percent, backing off
the previous day's 29-month closing highs. [.EU]

 Concerns over higher inflation in emerging markets,
indications of an economic recovery gathering pace in the United
States, modest valuations and tentative signs of stability in
the euro zone sovereign debt crisis have fuelled the
outperformance of shares in developed markets.

 Platinum and palladium rallied, although gains were tempered
by China's interest rate decision. 

 Both metals have seen inflows into some of the major
exchange-traded funds in the past week, such as ETF Securities'
U.S.-listed products, indicating investor appetite.

 Spot platinum XPT= was last up 0.2 percent at $1,841.24 an
ounce, nearing its highest level since July 2008, while
palladium XPD= remained within sight of fresh ten-year highs
and was last up 0.4 percent at $818.50 an ounce.

 Silver XAG= held in positive territory, up 0.1 percent at
$29.40. The price is up about 5 percent this month so far and is
within 5 percent of 31-year highs seen in early January.

 The Austrian Mint said on Tuesday it will not make five- and
10-euro silver coins for circulation this year because of the
high price, although it will continue making popular collector
items such as its Philarmonic coins.
 (Additional reporting by Lewa Pardomuan in Singapore  Editing
by Jane Baird)