* Spot gold may rise more to $1,546/oz - technicals
* Palladium touches record peak at $1,676.53/oz (Updates prices)
By Eileen Soreng
Sept 25 (Reuters) - Gold prices held steady just below a three-week peak on Wednesday as an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump fuelled political worries and "risk-off" sentiment.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday launched a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump, alleging he sought foreign help to smear Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of next year's election. gold XAU= was little changed at $1,531.35 per ounce, at 0750 GMT, after rising to its highest level since Sept. 5 at $1,535.60 on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures GCv1 fell 0.2% to $1,536.60 per ounce.
"Compounding into the macro weakness we have the tumult in (the) political landscape brought about by the impeachment process," said AxiTrader market strategist Stephen Innes.
"The risk could lead to lower equity market and undermine the U.S. dollar and that could be good for gold."
Weak U.S. consumer confidence data also ratcheted up concerns over the global economy. stoked Fed rate-cut speculation, driving down yields and thereby boosting the relative appeal of non-interest-bearing assets epitomised by gold," said Ilya Spivak, a senior currency strategist at DailyFx.
Meanwhile, the dollar steadied in Asian trade, and stocks fell as U.S. political uncertainty added to worries about economies strained by the Sino-U.S. trade row. USD/ MKTS/GLOB
Trump's rhetoric on China turned harsh once again on Tuesday as he delivered a stinging rebuke to Beijing's trade practices at the United Nations General Assembly, saying he would not accept a "bad deal" in U.S.-China trade negotiations. market is still waiting for some more definitive news on the trade front... Investors who are long are going to sell at such a high level," AxiTrader's Innes said.
The tone of Trump's speech was at odds with some recent steps by China to meet his request for purchases of more American farm products. The two parties are meeting again in October for talks.
Spot gold may rise more to $1,546 per ounce, as it has cleared a resistance at $1,524, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. other precious metals, palladium XPD= dipped 0.3% to$1,667.58 an ounce, after hitting a peak of $1,676.53 earlier in the session.
Silver XAG= was steady at $18.58 an ounce, while platinum XPT= dropped 0.3% to $950.46.