* Hopes for more c.bank stimulus underpin gold
* SGE gold trading volume declines
* Spot gold may fall to $1,591/oz -technicals
* Coming up: German industrial output, June; 1000 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on
Wednesday after climbing for three days, supported by hopes that
Europe and the United States would launch more stimulus measures
to help shore up their faltering economies.
Investors are betting that the festering debt crisis in the
euro zone could push the European Central Bank to launch a new
round of bond-buying soon, buoying gold's appeal as an inflation
hedge.
In the latest indicator of Europe's troubles, ratings agency
Standard & Poor's revised Greece's outlook to negative, saying
the debt-ridden country could need more help from its
international creditors.
In the U.S., Boston Fed Bank President Eric Rosengren said
the Federal Reserve should launch another bond buying programme
of whatever size and duration was necessary to get the economy
back on its feet.
"Gold is still looking promising in the second half, with
the peak physical consumption season on the horizon and more
quantitative easing from the U.S. Fed still on the cards," said
Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.
She added that the technical outlook for the precious metal
also looked supportive as lows on the weekly chart had been
gradually moving up since July.
Spot gold was little changed at $1,609.91 per ounce
by 0605 GMT, after rising more than 1 percent over the past
three sessions. The metal has traded in a range of just over $3
so far in the day.
The U.S. gold futures contract for December delivery
also traded nearly flat at $1,612.60.
Shorter-term technical analysis suggested that spot gold
could fall to $1,591 per ounce during the day, said Reuters
market analyst Wang Tao.
EBBING INTEREST
Relatively restrained movements in prices mean that investor
interest in gold has been declining, however.
The trading volume on the popular gold spot deferred
contract on the Shanghai Gold Exchange stood at
11,468 contracts on Tuesday, after double-counting, down nearly
30 percent from July's average daily volume.
In August 2011, daily trading volume was 35,086 contracts.
Spot silver eased to $27.98 per ounce, after climbing
to a one-week high of $28.23 on Tuesday, but traders said the
metal was still struggling to break a range that has held for
more than a month.
"We would be able to talk about a break from the sideways
trend if it stands steady above $28.5," said a Shanghai-based
trader.
Precious metals prices 0605 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1609.91 -0.77 -0.05 2.95
Spot Silver 27.98 -0.09 -0.32 1.05
Spot Platinum 1399.75 -2.85 -0.20 0.48
Spot Palladium 581.70 2.00 +0.35 -10.85
COMEX GOLD DEC2 1612.60 -0.20 -0.01 2.92 16694
COMEX SILVER SEP2 27.95 -0.14 -0.50 0.11 4453
Euro/Dollar 1.2388
Dollar/Yen 78.41
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
