* Fed Chair Yellen's testimony begins later Tuesday
* Betting odds weigh towards Britain remaining in EU
(Updates prices)
By Vijaykumar Vedala
BENGALURU, June 21 (Reuters) - Gold was down for a second
session on Tuesday as Asian shares extended a rally on growing
expectations that Britain would opt to remain in the European
Union in a referendum later this week.
Two opinion polls on Monday suggested support for Britain
staying in the European Union had recovered some ground
following the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker.
Betfair betting odds have also shown Britain's "Remain"
option gaining traction, with the implied probability of such an
outcome at 78 percent on Monday, up from 60-67 percent on
Friday.
Spot gold XAU= fell 0.5 percent to $1,283.50 an ounce by
0644 GMT, after earlier rising as high as $1,294.
It dropped 0.7 percent on Monday.
U.S. gold GCcv1 was down 0.4 percent at $1,286.50.
"Should the UK exit poll show the 'Remain' camp maintaining
its edge, we suspect that global equities will likely continue
to do better over the course of the next two days," said INTL
FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
"This will likely continue to pressure gold unless the UK
vote tightens once again."
A vote on June 23 by Britain to leave the 28-member EU,
dubbed "Brexit," could tip Europe back into recession, putting
more pressure on the global economy and thereby boosting the
safe-haven appeal of gold.
Spot gold may drop into a range of $1,275-$1,280 per ounce,
as suggested by a wedge and a Fibonacci projection analysis,
Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
"We think that gold is under short-term volatility, but
longer-term factors driving the gold demand are still intact,"
said Richard Xu, fund manager of China's top gold
exchange-traded fund (ETF) HuaAn Gold.
"We think that gold could be a very good buying opportunity
if it pulls back a little bit," Xu said.
Asian shares rose after a tentative start on Tuesday, while
the British pound set a three-week high against the dollar.
MKTS/GLOB USD/
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony before the
Senate Banking Committee starts later on Tuesday, and she may
offer clues on the timing of the next U.S. interest rate hike.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.10 percent to 908.77
tonnes on Monday, the highest since September 2013. GOL/ETF
Among other precious metals, silver XAG= fell 0.4 percent
to $17.41 an ounce.
Platinum XPT= and palladium XPD= rose after registering
on Monday their biggest one-day gains since June 3.