SINGAPORE, March 26  - Gold was little changed above $1,600 an ounce on Tuesday after two days of decline, as lingering worries over the euro zone supported sentiment despite an initial decline in safe-haven demand when Cyprus clinched a rescue deal.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,603.86 an ounce by 2348 GMT, after falling to a one-week low of $1,589.49 in the previous session.
   
* U.S. gold inched down $1.50 to $1,603.
   
* The president of Cyprus assured his people a bailout deal he struck with the European Union was in their best interests and would end anxiety, but he also announced "very temporary" capital controls to stem a run on the island's banks.

* Cyprus's rescue plan, which forces depositors and bank bondholders to bear losses, represents a new template for resolving euro zone banking problems and other countries may have to restructure their banking sectors, the head of the region's finance ministers said.
   
* The U.S. Federal Reserve must remain very accommodative because the labour market remains far from healthy despite some recent improvement in the broader economy, said New York Fed President William Dudley, a close ally of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
   
* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded gold, were unchanged at 1,221.26 tonnes from a day earlier.
   
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks fell on Monday on renewed concerns about the developments in Cyprus and the euro zone, which wiped away earlier gains that drove the S&P 500 index to less than a point away from its record close.
   
* The euro nursed heavy losses early in Asia on Tuesday, having suffered a steep drop across the board on fears that future bank rescues in the euro zone would come with the same stern conditions seen in Cyprus' deal.
   
    DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
 0400  U.S.      Build permits R chg mm     Feb                 
 0745  FRANCE    Consumer confidence        March  
 1145  U.S.      ICSC chain stores yy       Weekly              
 1230  U.S.      Durable goods              Feb                 
 1300  U.S.      CaseShiller 20 mm nsa      Jan                 
 1300  U.S.      CaseShiller 20 yy          Jan                 
 1400  U.S.      New home sales chg mm      Feb                 
 1400  U.S.      New home sales-units mm    Feb                 
 1400  U.S.      Consumer confidence        Mar                     
   
    PRICES
    
 Precious metals prices 2348 GMT
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg    Volume
  Spot Gold        1603.86   -1.04   -0.06     -4.22
  Spot Silver        28.82    0.01   +0.03     -4.82
  Spot Platinum    1580.49    2.49   +0.16      2.96
  Spot Palladium    755.22    0.22   +0.03      9.14
  COMEX GOLD APR3  1603.00   -1.50   -0.09     -4.34         1232
  COMEX SILVER MAY3  28.80   -0.02   -0.05     -4.73          352
  Euro/Dollar       1.2856
  Dollar/Yen         94.09
  COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months