Gold inched up to hold above $880 per ounce on Wednesday, adding to a 1 percent rally the previous day as stock markets fell at the start of what is likely to be a grim corporate earnings season. Trade was quiet, however, with the Easter holiday approaching and jewellery demand weak even after the precious metal fell back below $900. Holdings at the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund are steady, reflecting a slowdown in demand from long-term investors. Spot gold was at $882.10 per ounce at 0238 GMT, up 0.2 percent from New York's notional close of $880.05, and recovering from a trough of $864.30 on Monday, its lowest since Jan. 23. "The Easter holiday is coming, so there is not much demand. Also, normally April and May is a quiet season, especially from the jewellery sector," said Dick Poon, a division manager at Heraeus Ltd in Hong Kong. Expectations for another lousy corporate earnings period -- S&P 500 companies are forecast to see earnings fall 37 percent from a year ago -- has drawn safe-haven investors back into the dollar as well as gold. One focus is the fate of U.S. automaker General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research). A source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters on Tuesday it was in "intense" and "earnest" preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing. [ID:nN07463416] Asian stock markets fell on Wednesday, with the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS down almost 2.5 percent. Gold also got a lift on Tuesday after metals consultancy GFMS forecast prices would climb above $1,100 an ounce this year amid financial uncertainty around the globe. [ID:nWLA1721] The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, said holdings stood at 1,127.37 tonnes as of April 7, unchanged from levels on April 3 when they fell from a record 1,127.44 tonnes. [GOL/SPDR] Precious metals prices at 0245 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 882.50 2.45 +0.28 5.98 Spot Silver 12.29 0.07 +0.57 -16.79 Spot Platinum 1153.00 -9.00 -0.77 -24.14 Spot Palladium 222.50 0.50 +0.23 -39.54 TOCOM Gold 2855.00 9.00 +0.32 -6.70 16501 TOCOM Platinum 3746.00 -11.00 -0.29 -29.84 6842 TOCOM Silver 395.20 2.20 +0.56 -26.95 267 TOCOM Palladium 729.00 -3.00 -0.41 -46.04 64 Euro/Dollar 1.3194 Dollar/Yen 100.07 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.

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