SINGAPORE, March 13 (Reuters) - Gold was trading near its highest level in six months on Thursday as investors sought to hedge their bets against geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and economic slowdown fears in China. FUNDAMENTALS * Spot goldXAU= was trading flat at $1,365.10 an ounce by 0017 GMT, after jumping 1.3 percent on Wednesday. The metal reached $1,370.60 in the previous session - its highest since Sept. 19. * The EU agreed on a framework on Wednesday for its first sanctions on Russia since the Cold War, a stronger response to the Ukraine crisis than many expected and a mark of solidarity with Washington in the drive to make Moscow pay for seizing Crimea.ID:nL6N0M94EZ * Markets are eyeing more economic data from China on Thursday to determine the state of the economy, after a recent bond default and a weak exports report sent equities and base metals lower. Gold is seen as a safe-haven asset. * SPDR Gold TrustGLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 1.50 tonnes to 811.20 tonnes on Wednesday.GOL/ETF * India's biggest jewellery retailer Titan Co LtdTITN.NS hopes to start exports in the next fiscal year to perk up sales that have been dampened by the country's strict curbs on gold imports, a senior company official said.ID:nL3N0M91MZ * For the top stories on metals and other news, clickTOP/MTL ,TOP/MACRO orGOL/ MARKET NEWS * World stock indexes declined for a fourth day and copper dipped to near four-year lows before rebounding on Wednesday as worries about China's economic slowdown intensified.MKTS/GLOB DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0530 China Industrial outputCNIO=ECI 0530 China Retail salesCNRSL=ECI 0530 China Urban investmentCNUFAI=ECI 1230 U.S. Import pricesUSIMP=ECI 1230 U.S. Export pricesUSEXP=ECI 1230 U.S. Retail salesUSRSL=ECI 1230 U.S. Weekly jobless claimsUSJOB=ECI 1400 U.S. Business inventoriesUSBINV=ECI PRICES AT 0017 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg Spot gold 1365.1 -1.48 -0.11 Spot silver 21.22 -0.02 -0.09 Spot platinum 1468.49 2.69 0.18 Spot palladium 772.29 2.89 0.38 Comex gold 1365.4 -5.1 -0.37 Comex silver 21.28 -0.078 -0.37 Euro 1.3898 DXY 79.636 COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Michael Perry) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3726)(Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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