* Market eyes another U.S. interest rate rise
* Palladium up 5 pct after slide to 5-1/2-year lows
(Rewrites throughout to update prices; adds comment, byline,
NEW YORK dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Clara Denina
NEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Gold turned higher on
Wednesday as the dollar fell, U.S. stocks dropped and a Federal
Reserve president raised concerns about inflation expectations.
U.S. stocks sold off sharply and a brief rally in
beaten-down oil prices stalled after U.S. data added to concerns
about an over supplied energy market. MKTS/GLOB
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.6 percent at $1,093.25 an ounce at
3:40 p.m. EST (2040 GMT), while U.S. gold futures GCcv1
settled up 0.2 percent at $1,087.10.
"The downturn in equities helped push prices up in the
latter part of trade," said James Steel, chief metals analyst
for HSBC Securities in New York.
Also late in the session, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank
President Charles Evans said he was nervous about the potential
effects of China's slowdown on the U.S. economy and about the
possibility that inflation expectations may be slipping.
"Evans was erring on the side of fewer, not more, rate rises
and that's supportive of gold."
The Fed raised U.S. interest rates in December and attention
has shifted to how many increases will follow in 2016. Rate
hikes typically lower demand for the non-interest-paying metal
while boosting the dollar.
"There is a tendency for gold prices to rise in the first
few weeks of the year," said analyst Georgette Boele at ABN
Amro.
"But pressure will come back ... and when wider markets get
sold, you'd better buy the dollar, which is much more liquid
than gold."
Gold rallied to a nine-week top of $1,112 last week, but
expectations of
The dollar and risk-sensitive currencies recovered ground
against the yen and the euro early in the session, after China's
central bank held the yuan steady and better than expected
Chinese trade data helped to reduce some of the bearishness
toward the world's second-largest economy. FRX/
But with Chinese economic growth slowing and its stock
markets vulnerable, analysts see it as unlikely that gold will
lose too much ground.
China launched interbank gold trading at the beginning of
this year as part of a broader drive to open up the country's
bullion market and increase financial investment in the world's
largest consumer of the precious metal.
Among other precious metals, palladium XPD= rose as much
as 5.8 percent to $498 an ounce after sliding to a 5-1/2-year
low of $449.55 on Tuesday.
"The market had become very oversold and was more likely to
snap back," HSBC's Steel said.
Silver XAG= gained 2.6 percent to $14.15 an ounce, while
platinum XPT= was up 1.7 percent at $846.24.