By Arpan Mukherjee Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WELLINGTON (Dow Jones) --Precious metals rose in Asian trading Wednesday, boosted by a steady euro on the back of optimism that later in the day Greece's parliament will approve austerity measures, a precondition to securing a bailout package from international funding agencies. At 0606 GMT, spot gold was at $1,504.80 a troy ounce, up $2.70 from its New York close after opening lower. Gold regained its footing in tandem with a firming euro, which was at $1.4365 after falling to an intraday low of $1.4341. Dollar-denominated commodities tend to strengthen when the U.S. dollar weakens, which makes the commodities less expensive for holders of other currencies. "Right now the uncertainty about Greece is supporting the markets and also the weakness in the dollar is positively helping gold," Mumbai-based Commtrendz Research Director Gnanasekhar Thiagarajan said. Many market participants are holding back from taking new positions ahead of the vote. Any glitch in passing the austerity measures or a delay in their implementation could see increased investor appetite for safe-haven investments such as gold, traders said. Doubts about the ability of some European nations to manage their sovereign debt have helped recently to push up gold higher. Even if the situation in Greece stabilizes, uncertainties will remain, Thiagarajan said, adding that the market will be closely tracking debt concerns in Ireland, Spain and Portugal. Although analysts say gold is a good buy below $1,530/oz, physical demand has been tepid. Gold purchases usually slow during the summer months in the northern hemisphere, especially in India, one of the biggest gold consumers. It picks up after September with the onset of the festive season. "Apparently, there are some clusters of bullion orders on the books near $1,480/oz by Indian traders who are taking a wait-and-hope approach to the recent selloff in the yellow metal," Kitco Metals senior analyst John Nadler said. Though silver has moved in tandem with gold, analysts are less enthusiastic about its outlook, despite the possibility of a supply disruption due to anti-mining protests in Peru, one of the largest gold and silver-producing countries. "Since there is a rather comfortable physical surplus in the silver market, we do not expect the turmoil in Peru to cause significant tightening in the supply-and-demand balance," Barclays Capital said in a report. Spot silver was at $34.07/oz, up 13 cents. Platinum was up $15 at $1,705/oz, while palladium was up $2 at $741/oz. -By Arpan Mukherjee, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; arpan.mukherjee@dowjones.com

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