PRECIOUS-Gold edged down as euro eases; China data eyed

SINGAPORE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Spot gold edged lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning run as the euro rally paused while investors watch for the key China economic data that might shed light on prospects for future monetary policy changes.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold edged down 0.1 percent to $1,368.45 an ounce by 0039 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures shed 0.1 percent to $1,368.4.

* New home starts in December fell more than expected to the lowest in more than a year, suggesting the battered housing sector remained a major roadblock to economic recovery.

* Worries about the euro zone debt crisis have eased, and talk that German officials were drafting contingency plans in case Greece defaults suggested they were working to prevent the crisis from worsening.

* Beijing is scheduled to release a suite of data, including economic growth in the fourth quarter and December's inflation later in the day. The economy was expected to have slowed slightly from the previous three months.

* Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell to an eight-month low of 1,251.433 tonnes.

MARKET NEWS

* The S&P 500 suffered its biggest decline in nearly two months on Wednesday as disappointing results from Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo put a damper on the rally.

* The euro succumbed to a bit of profit taking early in Asia on Thursday, after having extended its rally to an eight-week high above $1.35 overnight. The dollar index edged up from a two-month low hit in the previous session.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0200 China GDP Q4 0200 China Industrial output Dec 0200 China Retail sales Dec 0200 China CPI Dec 0200 China PPI Dec 1330 U.S. Initial Claims Weekly 1500 U.S. Lead indicators Dec 1500 U.S. Philly Fed index Jan 2200 U.S. Semi Book/Bill Dec :: U.S. Freeport-McMoRan earnings Q4

RELATED NEWS > Obama presses China's Hu on currency, rights > Banks, tech drag Wall St to worst loss in months > US housing starts lowest since late 2009 > Japan to revise primary balance gap wider-paper > Germany mulls possible Greek restructuring-sources > Brent above $98 on N.Sea supply, US crude down > Germany lifts 2011 growth forecast to 2.3 pct > ECB watching inflation developments closely-Stark > BoE's Posen says goal not always to cut inflation > UK jobless rise, wage growth weak; risks ahead > Bank of Canada sees strong C$ tempering growth > Brazil raises interest rates to curb inflation

PRICES

Precious metals prices 0039 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1368.45 -1.60 -0.12 -3.59 Spot Silver 28.58 -0.18 -0.63 -7.39 Spot Platinum 1825.74 -5.25 -0.29 3.30 Spot Palladium 806.97 -5.00 -0.62 0.93 TOCOM Gold 3629.00 -18.00 -0.49 -2.68 19733 TOCOM Platinum 4887.00 -47.00 -0.95 4.07 5365 TOCOM Silver 75.50 -2.00 -2.58 -6.79 4156 TOCOM Palladium 2141.00 -33.00 -1.52 2.10 321 Euro/Dollar 1.3436 Dollar/Yen 82.17 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Reporting By Rujun Shen; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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