Gold nudged lower on Thursday, on course for its fifth straight day of losses as gloom over the euro zone's debt crisis supported the dollar, weighing on bullion.
Fundamentals
* Spot gold inched down 0.2 percent to $1,759.19 an ounce by 0056 GMT, extending losses to a fifth day.
* U.S. gold also edged down 0.2 percent to $1,761.20.
* Standard & Poor's on Wednesday cut Spain's sovereign credit rating to BBB-minus, just above junk territory, citing a deepening economic recession that is limiting the government's policy options to arrest the slide.
* The International Monetary Fund urged European policymakers to deepen the financial and fiscal ties within the euro area with some urgency to restore sagging confidence in the global financial system.
* Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds rose to a record high of 75.03 million ounces by October9, despite the sluggish prices.
* Hong Kong's August gold shipments to China fell 29 percent from the previous month to 53.508 tonnes, the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department said.
* Gold analysts have turned increasingly bullish on the outlook for prices in the final quarter of 2012, unanimously expecting a record-high average, and further gains next year, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.
* But analysts are less upbeat about platinum's prospects now than they were three months ago, as the threat to demand from a slowing global economy overshadows the lift from supply disruptions in top producer South Africa.
Market news
* The S&P 500 fell for a fourth day on Wednesday, weighed down by disappointing news from Chevron and Alcoa as earnings season got under way.
* The euro and the Australian dollar fell on Thursday as a drop in global shares dented investor risk appetite, with worries about global economic slowdown and uncertainty over Spain's bailout prospects continuing to haunt sentiment.
