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TOKYO, Mar 30 (Reuters) Spot silver bullish above $11 an ounce on Thursday, supported by purchasing by hedge funds who are trying to take new buy positions ahead of the second quarter on hopes that an exchange-traded fund (ETF) will launch soon.

-- As of 0038 GMT, silver was trading at $11.11/11.14 an ounce, up slightly from $11.10/11.13 late in New York, where it had climbed more than 2 percent.

-- Fund buying accelerated after surpassing a short-term technical target of $11 on views that a proposed U.S.

silver-backed security that is expected to boost consumer and speculative demand will be approved in the near term.

-- Silver has risen almost 8 percent since early last week when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cleared the way for final approval of the first ETF to be backed by bullion.

-- ETFs are designed to track a specific market or commodity and trade like listed shares on an exchange.

-- On Wednesday, firm silver prices pushed up spot gold near its 25-year peak of around $574.60 an ounce reached on Feb. 2, according to a Reuters data.

-- Sentiment for gold is bullish, but topside was blocked as Japanese investors were keen to lock in profits ahead of the fiscal book closings on Friday.

-- Spot gold fell to $571.55/572.05 an ounce from $573.10/574.00 late in New York on Wednesday. It had climbed as high as $573.60 on Wednesday.

-- Despite slight losses in Asia trade, technical trends were bullish, with spot gold sharply above its near- and medium-term moving averages.

-- Gold was about 2 percent above its seven-day MA of $562 and nearly 3 percent above its 50-day MA of $556.

-- The benchmark most-distant February contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange was trading at 2,191 yen per gram, up 35 yen or 1.6 percent from Wednesday's close.

-- Traders said heavy sell orders were lined up near a session high of 2,197 yen.

-- Platinum was little changed at $1,071/1,076 an ounce compared with $1,071/1,075 in New York.

-- Sister metal palladium strengthened to $336/341 an ounce from $333.50/337.50.

REUTERS SK RN0704