PRECIOUS-Gold slips from 2-month peak, palladium holds near record high

* ECB keeps policy unchanged, faces taper questions
* Dollar pinned near multi-week lows, Treasury yields below
1.6%
* Palladium hovers near record high of $2,891.20/oz
* GRAPHIC-Palladium shoots to new records (Updates prices)
By Sethuraman N R
April 22 (Reuters) - Gold eased from a two-month high on
Thursday as investors awaited European Central Bank chief
Christine Lagarde's conference, while supply worries kept
palladium near a record peak hit in the previous session.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.3% at $1,787.34 per ounce by
1146 GMT, after hitting its highest since Feb. 25 at $1,797.67.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 were down 0.3% at $1,787.30.
"We will see another shot at $1,800 as the sentiment has
improved. We have not seen any further exchange traded fund
outflows," Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said.
"There's also a perception that central banks are not going
to do anything in changing the ultra-loose monetary policy ...
the effect of that is rising gold prices," he added.
The ECB left its policy unchanged as expected on Thursday,
keeping copious stimulus flowing even as it faces questions over
how it might claw back support once the euro zone economy
reopens. Lagarde's news conference is due at 1230 GMT and she is
likely to argue that more time is needed before the economy
recovers.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield US10YT=RR was pinned
below 1.6%, reducing the opportunity cost of holding
non-yielding bullion. The dollar .DXY held near multi-week
lows. USD/ US/
"There is slightly weaker physical demand (for gold) at
these higher prices," said Nicholas Frappell, global general
manager at ABC Bullion.
Meanwhile, palladium XPD= eased 0.7% to $2,855.93 an
ounce, having surged to an all-time high of $2,891.20 per ounce
on Wednesday.
Many analysts expect a further run towards $3,000.
Higher palladium prices reflect the tight supply situation,
Commerzbank's Fritsch said, adding the market is set to show a
sizeable supply deficit this year partly on account of the
robust demand from the automotive industry.
Silver XAG= fell 0.7% to $26.38 per ounce and platinum
XPT= was down 0.8% at $1,204.16.