Gold price inches up on steadier euro; platinum hits 3-wk high

FUNDAMENTALS

* Gold had risen $2.60 to $1,727.49 an ounce by 0035 GMT, but was still down from a 3-week peak around $1,738 struck on Friday.

* Platinum climbed to $1,590, its strongest since Oct. 23.

* Palladium was steady at $633.00 an ounce, having rallied to $634.97 on Tuesday, its strongest since Oct. 19.

* Supply outages in South Africa are set to push the platinum market into deficit this year as shipments from the world's main producer of the white metal fall by the equivalent of more than a month's demand, refiner Johnson Matthey said on Tuesday.

* U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday warned against extending all U.S. tax breaks to give Washington additional time to broker a deficit reduction deal, saying it would create more uncertainty in the markets.

* U.S. gold futures for December rose $3 an ounce to $1,727.80.

* Holdings of the largest silver-backed exchange-traded-fund (ETF), New York's iShares Silver Trust SLV, dropped 0.19 percent on Monday from Friday, while those of the largest gold-backed ETF, New York's SPDR Gold Trust GLD, remained unchanged during the same period.

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MARKET NEWS

* Asian shares and the euro steadied on Wednesday but lacked the impetus for a decisive rebound, as investors continued to fret about the looming fiscal cliff

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