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)

((rujun.shen@thomsonreuters.com)(+65-6870-3726)(Reuters

Messaging: rujun.shen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS PRECIOUS/

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