PRECIOUS-Gold steady before German ruling, Fed meeting

  MARKET NEWS * The Dow industrials closed at the highest level in nearly five years on Tuesday in a lightly traded session before key decisions in Germany and the United States that could give markets a further boost. * The dollar index wallowed near a four-month low hit in the previous session, after rating agency Moody's threatened to downgrade the U.S. government debt. DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0530 India Industrial output July 0800 Italy Industrial output July 0800 Germany Constitutional court announces decision on the legality of the euro zone's new permanent bailout fund and budget rules 0900 EZ Industrial production July 1230 US Import/export prices August US Federal Open Market Committee begins two-day meeting on monetary policy PRICES Precious metals prices 0028 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1733.36 1.72 +0.10 10.84 Spot Silver 33.53 0.04 +0.12 21.09 Spot Platinum 1604.08 4.68 +0.29 15.15 Spot Palladium 665.20 -0.30 -0.05 1.95 COMEX GOLD DEC2 1735.90 1.00 +0.06 10.79 1771 COMEX SILVER DEC2 33.58 0.01 +0.04 20.29 415 Euro/Dollar 1.2851 Dollar/Yen 77.83 COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Ed Davies)