PRECIOUS-Gold climbs as Fed official says no rush to end bond buying

* Gold on track for strongest week in a month

* No rush to end monetary easing -Fed's Bullard

* Nikkei, dollar gain after volatile trading on Thursday

(Adds quotes, details and updates prices)

By A. Ananthalakshmi

SINGAPORE, May 24 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Friday and stayed

on track for its strongest week in a month after a U.S. Federal

Reserve official said there was no rush to end the monetary

easing programme that has increased the metal's appeal as a

hedge against inflation.

Gold edged up this week as investors sought its safe-haven

status after the dollar and equity markets were hit by factory

data from China and the United States that showed the pace of

manufacturing had slowed.

Spot gold rose 0.21 percent to $1,393.61 an ounce by

0346 GMT, still not far from two-year lows near $1,321 seen in

mid-April. U.S. gold rose slightly to $1,392.50.

Gold has been hammered this year, losing nearly a fifth of

its value, as investors favoured stocks and other risk assets on

the back of strong economic data.

"Gold prices will be stuck in a range for a while, trading

below $1,400-$1,410 an ounce," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer

at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

Global financial markets were spooked earlier this week when

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could

decide to start scaling back on its $85 billion in monthly bond

purchases in the next few meetings.

But Bernanke also said the U.S. economy had to show more

signs of progress before the Fed would make that move, and gold

has stayed on track for a 2.5 percent gain this week.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Thursday he

did not think the Fed was "that close" to taking any such

decision, tempering the concern that the bank would move quickly

to end its easy money policy.

"Despite Bernanke dancing around the question of when the

stimulus will be removed, at this stage, the move is more of a

matter of when rather than if. When it does occur, it could

knock out a key prop from under the gold market going forward,"

said Edward Meir, an analyst with INTL FCStone.

Dealer Leung said Chinese had slowed down their physical

buying on Friday as they await data on U.S. durable goods orders

and consumer confidence reports from German and Italy.

Buyers in China had been active earlier this week lured by

lower prices, helping to push premiums to record highs in Hong

Kong and Singapore.

Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest

gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell to fresh four-year lows

of 1018.57 tonnes on Thursday.

Precious metals prices 0346 GMT

Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume

Spot Gold 1393.61 2.91 +0.21 -16.78

Spot Silver 22.58 0.02 +0.09 -25.43

Spot Platinum 1458.49 -0.12 -0.01 -4.98

Spot Palladium 735.97 1.54 +0.21 6.35

COMEX GOLD JUN3 1392.50 0.70 +0.05 -16.91 11826

COMEX SILVER JUL3 22.58 0.07 +0.30 -25.32 2702

Euro/Dollar 1.2913

Dollar/Yen 102.28

COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Richard Pullin and

Tom Hogue)

 
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  • Currencies
    Currencies
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    1.26640.00+0.19%
    USDSGD=X
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    EURSGD=X
    1.91250.00+0.15%
    GBPSGD=X
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    SGDCNY=X
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    AUDSGD=X
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    GCM13.CMX
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    SIN13.CMX
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    ^XAU
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    HGN13.CMX
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    CLN13.NYM
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    C52.SI
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    5RJ.SI
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    I26.SI
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    5HC.SI
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    5GC.SI
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    S48.SI
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    543.SI
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    Z75.SI
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    H20.SI
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    C52.SI