PRECIOUS-Gold firms, eyes U.S.-China ties; palladium bolts to record

* Palladium hits all-time high of $1,779.23
* Brexit summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday
* SPDR Gold Holdings near 3-year highs

(Updates prices, adds analyst comments)
By Asha Sistla
Oct 16 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Wednesday on concerns that
Washington's stance on Hong Kong could hamper trade negotiations
with Beijing and as investors awaited a key Brexit summit, but
bullion's gains were dwarfed by deficit-hit palladium as it
smashed new records.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.2% to $1,483.53 per ounce at 10:32
a.m. EDT (1432 GMT). U.S. gold futures GCv1 were up 0.3% at
$1,487.20.
In a move that soured ties between the United States and
China on Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed four
pieces of legislation taking a hard line on Beijing, three
related to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, drawing
opposition from China. "A lot of people think this (U.S. legislation on Hong Kong)
is going to hinder the negotiations with the tariffs (between
U.S.-China), so again, when the tariffs are questionable, people
run to gold," said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global
Investors.
Analysts are also wary of the situation in Europe as they
await the outcome of the Brexit summit in Brussels on Thursday
and Friday which will determine whether Britain is headed for a
deal to leave the bloc on the due date, a disorderly no-deal
exit or a delay. Also helping gold, U.S. equity markets opened lower as
positive earnings offset cautious traders worried about the
legislation targeting Hong Kong. .N
Investors also await the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting at the
end of the month for clarity on further interest rate cuts.
FEDWATCH
Indicative of sentiment, holdings of the world's largest
gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Shares GLD , fell on Tuesday to
919.66 tonnes, but held close to their highest level in nearly
three years. GOL/ETF
Elsewhere, palladium XPD= rose 2.4% to $1,774.32 an ounce,
after hitting a record high of $1,779.23 earlier.
The metal used in vehicle exhausts to reduce harmful
emissions has climbed about 40% so far this year on a sustained
supply crunch.
"It (palladium) has been on a great uptrend and more
technical than anything else. Same as gold, if anything is
rallying the way it is - 20-year or 1-year the trend looks great
and people want to own it, bringing more momentum players into
the trade. The driver behind is about 75% technical and 25%
fundamental," U.S. Global Investors' Matousek added.
Silver XAG= fell 0.4% to $17.30 per ounce and platinum
XPT= slipped 0.9% to $880.23.

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