SINGAPORE, Aug 22 (Reuters) Gold held near New York levels on Wednesday as investors awaited for le

SINGAPORE, Aug 22 (Reuters) Gold held near New York levels on Wednesday as investors awaited for leads from currencies and stocks, while palladium tumbled to its lowest since late November on fund selling.

-- Spot gold was at $656.10/656.80 an ounce, hardly changed from $656.20/656.70 late in New York on Tuesday, when it fell more than $1 as credit market jitters persisted.

-- Most active June 2008 gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 19 yen per gram to 2,434 yen to track losses in New York's COMEX market and also because of a firmer yen.

-- The yen held gains against the dollar and euro on Wednesday as investors kept shedding risky positions after a slide in a U.S. stock index gave a reminder that confidence in the credit market had yet to be restored.

-- The dollar eased from late New York trade at 114.25 , near the day's low of 113.99 yen touched on electronic trading platform EBS in early trade. The euro was barely changed at $1.3460 .

-- The Nikkei average <.n225> slipped around 0.25 percent in early trade, subduing the appetite for risk and keeping conditions ripe for an ongoing unwinding of yen carry trades, where the low-yielding currency is used to buy assets in higher-yielding ones.

-- Despite gold's volatile price swings, bullion used to back gold ETFs continued to grow, ignoring market volatility amid liquidity fears.

-- Data showed that gold held by StreetTRACKS Gold Shares , the world's largest bullion ETF by far, surged to a record 514.21 tonnes as of Monday, compared with about 507 tonnes on Friday. -- Platinum rose to $1,242/1,247 an ounce from $1,241/1,248 in New York.

-- Sister metal palladium fell to its lowest in nearly nine months at $316/321 an ounce, down from $317/322 late in New York. The metal has been badly hit by fund selling since a broad sell-off in financial markets last week spilled into commodities.

-- Silver fell to $11.53/11.57 an ounce from $11.56/11.59 an ounce.

Precious metals prices at 0103 GMT Last Net Change Pct Move Turnover (lots) TOCOM Gold 2435.00 -18.00 -0.73 18049 TOCOM Platinum 4542.00 -33.00 -0.72 9261 TOCOM Silver 427.30 -10.60 -2.42 1124 TOCOM Palladium 1183.00 -43.00 -3.51 534 Spot Gold 655.60 Spot Platinum 1242.00 Spot Silver 11.53 Spot Palladium 316.00 Change so far in 2007 Metal Latest bid End prev year Pct Move TOCOM Gold 2435.00 2445.00 -0.41 TOCOM Platinum 4542.00 4254.00 +6.77 TOCOM Silver 427.30 493.30 -13.38 TOCOM Palladium 1183.00 1255.00 -5.74 Spot Gold 655.60 636.10 +3.07 Spot Platinum 1242.00 1132.00 +9.72 Spot Silver 11.53 12.85 -10.27 Spot Palladium 316.00 332.00 -4.82 Euro/Dollar $1.3456 Dollar/Yen 114.33 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams spot prices in $ per ounce.

Reuters CS VP0650