PRECIOUS-Gold flat under $940, ETF unchanged

* Gold mostly steady after decline on Friday

* SPDR gold ETF holdings XAUEXT-NYS-TT unchanged

By Miho Yoshkawa

TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) - Gold steadied below $940 on
Monday, taking a break from its recent decline, although it
remained under pressure from a firm dollar luring funds into
other investments.

Traders said bullion could resume its descent, however, as it
failed to top the key $1,000 mark in early June on the dollar's
rally, which robbed gold of its appeal as a hedge against the
U.S. currency. Bullion rose as high as $989.80 on June 3.

"(Gold) looks like it's in a short-term downtrend mode after
the strong rally in the dollar," said Adrian Koh an analyst at
Phillip Futures.

Gold XAU= was at $938.45 per ounce at 0243 GMT, up 0.06
percent from New York's notional close of $937.90, and down about
5 percent from the June high.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery GCQ9 were at $939.1
per ounce, down 0.2 percent.

Koh said he was also waiting for economic data on inflation
to help provide direction.

"In the U.S. we have the CPI and PPI data later this week ...
and we also have similar figures for the Eurozone and U.K.," he
said.

The Producer Price Index's May headline number is expected to
increase 0.6 percent month over month, while May's Consumer Price
Index is seen climbing 0.3 percent. [ID:nN1496479]

The dollar rose broadly on Monday as investors bought the
greenback and took profits from recent gains in other major
currencies which were lifted to multi-month highs on hopes that
the economy has seen the worst of a deep recession. [USD/]

Japan's Nikkei stock average slipped 0.7 percent dragged
lower by chipmakers after disappointing guidance from a U.S. peer
as investors searched for clear signs that the recession may be
easing. [.T]

Demand for physical gold remained weak.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), said its holdings were steady at 1,132.15
tonnes as of June 12, unchanged from the previous business day.
[GOL/SPDR]

Speculators boosted their holdings of U.S. gold futures with
noncommercial investors net long on 189,674 contracts of gold
futures in the week to June 9, compared to net long positions of
187,340 contracts in the week to June 2. [ID:nN1282010]

PRICES
Precious metals prices at 0241 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 938.20 0.30 +0.03 6.60
Spot Silver 14.70 -0.09 -0.61 29.86
Spot Platinum 1235.00 -14.00 -1.12 32.51
Spot Palladium 248.00 -2.50 -1.00 34.42
TOCOM Gold 2976.00 -43.00 -1.42 15.66 32251
TOCOM Platinum 3925.00 -63.00 -1.58 48.00 8455
TOCOM Silver 463.00 -18.40 -3.82 45.00 318
TOCOM Palladium 795.00 -20.00 -2.45 44.55 202
Euro/Dollar 1.3967
Dollar/Yen 98.26
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Joseph Radford)