SINGAPORE, Dec 5 - Gold was little changed on Wednesday, hovering near its weakest in a month as talks between the White House and Congress to avoid year-end tax hikes and spending cuts showed little progress and kept investors at bay.
      
FUNDAMENTALS
* Gold was quoted at $1,696.15 an ounce by 0013 GMT, after falling to $1,690.64 on Tuesday, its weakest since Nov. 6, on heavy fund liquidation and options-related selling.
    
* U.S. gold futures for February added $2.10 an ounce to $1,697.90.     
    
* President Barack Obama held his ground on the "fiscal cliff" on Tuesday, insisting on higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans, while Republicans showed increasing disarray over how far they should go to compromise with Obama's demands.
    
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MARKET NEWS
* The euro hovered at seven-week highs against the greenback on Wednesday but struggled against the Australian dollar, which gained broadly as investors brushed aside a cut in interest rates to focus on its still relatively high yield.
   
* Japan's Nikkei share average extended the previous session's losses on Wednesday as investor sentiment soured after Wall Street eased on concerns over the U.S. budget tangle.
   
    DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
    0030 Australia GDP
    0858 Euro zone Markit Services PMI Nov
    1000 Euro zone Retail sales Oct
    1315 U.S. ADP employment report Nov
    1500 U.S. ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI Nov
    1500 U.S. Durable goods orders Oct
    1500 U.S. Factory orders Oct
       
    PRICES
   
  Precious metals prices 0013 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1696.15   -0.59   -0.03      8.46
  Spot Silver        32.89   -0.02   -0.06     18.78
  Spot Platinum    1578.75   -0.35   -0.02     13.33
  Spot Palladium    676.49   -1.21   -0.18      3.68
  COMEX GOLD FEB3  1697.90    2.10   +0.12      8.37         1696
  COMEX SILVER MAR3  32.97    0.16   +0.49     18.11          444
  Euro/Dollar       1.3104
  Dollar/Yen         81.84
 
  COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months