PRECIOUS-Gold steadies below 3-week peak, Trump probe lends support

* 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. Spot 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. "It 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.
"The 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. Among 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.