SINGAPORE, May 27 (Reuters) - Gold inched up on Friday on
mounting worries about whether Greece would receive its next
round of aid from the IMF, while silver regained strength after
tumbling from a two-week top in the previous session. 	

 FUNDAMENTALS	

 * Spot gold added $5.60 an ounce to $1,523.70 an
ounce by 0009 GMT, still well below a lifetime high around
$1,575 touched in early May.  	

 * Silver rose 25 cents to $37.49 an ounce in thin
trade. It had rallied to a two-week high at $38.84 on Thursday
before hitting a low around $36 as speculators booked profits.
Silver struck record at $49.51 an ounce in April.	

 * The International Monetary Fund may withhold the next
slice of aid to Greece due next month, the head of euro zone
finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday, spooking
markets with the possibility of default. [ID:nLDE74P1HC]	

 But Juncker's spokesman later clarified that if European and
IMF inspectors were convinced by new Greek austerity measures,
there would be no problem with the June aid
tranche.[ID:nLDE74P25M]  	

 * Holdings of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York's
iShares Silver Trust and the largest gold-backed
exchange-traded-fund (ETF), New York's SPDR Gold Trust 
remained unchanged on Thursday. 	

 * Chinese gold imports could exceed 400 tonnes in 2011,
leading global consultancy GFMS said. [ID:nL3E7GQ0B8] 	

 MARKET NEWS	

 * Japan's benchmark Nikkei average opened down 0.50
percent at 9,514.16 on Friday, while the broader Topix 
shed 0.29 percent to 824.70. 	

 * The euro hit a record low versus the Swiss franc on
Thursday on mounting doubts whether Greece will receive its next
round of aid from the IMF, and the worries are likely to keep
the single currency under pressure. 	

 DATA EVENTS (GMT)	

 0800 EZ Money-M3 3m moving av Apr 2011 

 0900 EZ Business climate May 2011 

 0900 EZ Economic sentiment May 2011 

 1230 U.S. Personal income mm Apr 

 1355 U.S. Reuters/U. Mich sentiment May 2011 <ECONUS	

 1230 U.S. Pending Home Sales Apr 

 1430 U.S. ECRI weekly index	
 Precious metals prices 0009 GMT
 Metal             Last    Change   Pct chg  YTD pct chg  Turnover
 Spot Gold        1523.70    5.60    +0.37      7.34
 Spot Silver        37.49    0.25    +0.67     21.48
 Spot Platinum    1775.00    10.15   +0.58      0.42
 Spot Palladium    750.80   -0.65    -0.09     -6.09
 TOCOM Gold       3989.00   -43.00   -1.07      6.97        35943
 TOCOM Platinum   4690.00   -59.00   -1.24     -0.13         4385
 TOCOM Silver       97.80   -3.70    -3.65     20.74         1434
 TOCOM Palladium  1970.00   -15.00   -0.76     -6.06          118
 Euro/Dollar       1.4130
 Dollar/Yen         81.16
 
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
	
 (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Good night & Sleep tight.