PRECIOUS-Gold ekes out gain but technical selling weighs

* Technical selling hits, gold fails to clear resistance
* Gold tracks euro weakness as investors fret over Greece
deal
* US gold futures volume light ahead of Weds euro zone
meeting
* Coming up: U.S. import/export prices Tuesday

(Updates comment, prices)
By Frank Tang and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Gold managed to
end with a small gain in light volume on Monday, as technical
selling and a fizzled euro rally offset bullion's initial gains
after Greece's parliament passed austerity measures needed to
secure an international bailout package.
Gold, euro and U.S. equities broadly rose in early sessions
hopes the Greek deal on strict financial reforms would be enough
to secure critical funds to avert a default that could spread to
other euro zone economies.
The metal's rally began to fade when it failed to rise above
the previous session's high above $1,730 an ounce. Last week,
gold encountered heavy technical selling around $1,750 an ounce,
the highs set in early December.
"Gold is currently testing its upward trendline. Until it
rises above the middle of its bullish double-bottom pattern at
$1,804 an ounce, there remains significant overhead resistance,"
said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital.
Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,724.39 an ounce as
of 2:57 p.m. EST (1957 GMT), having risen as high as $1,733.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled down 40
cents an ounce at $1,724.90.
Trading volume almost halved its 30-day average, on track to
be the lowest since the holiday trade in late December 2011.
Jonathan Jossen, a COMEX gold options floor trader, said
gold's pullback from its initial rally was technically driven as
selling accelerated after the metal failed to breach Friday's
high at around $1,734 an ounce.
Gold trade was choppy ahead of a key meeting Wednesday when
euro zone finance ministers are expected to will decide whether
to agree to the 130 billion euro ($171.8 billion) bailout.
Greece will have to specify how concrete budget savings will be
achieved before Wednesday.
Scenes of riots in Greece underscored a sense of deepening
turmoil in the country. The EU warned on Monday that the
consequences of failure would be "devastating."
Although gold prices have rallied more than 10 percent this
year, they have tended to fall in the short run to signs of more
stress in the euro zone, tracking losses in the euro and stocks.
Gold has made significant gains this year on the back of
loose monetary policy in the United States and elsewhere, which
cuts the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal.

SPEC LENGTH IN FOCUS
Money managers in gold and silver futures and options raised
their net long position to a near six-month high last week, data
from the U.S. futures regulator CFTC showed.
TD Securities analysts said in a note that the rise in
gold's spec length was "too much too soon", while Commerzbank
said the bullish fund position gave rise to a potential
correction should market optimism abate.
Silver was up 0.4 percent at $33.70 an ounce. Spot
platinum was up 0.4 percent at $1,645.93 an ounce, while
spot palladium fell 0.9 percent to $693.48 an ounce.
Platinum has been supported by concerns about supply from
South Africa, source of three-quarters of the world's platinum.
Platinum's consequent outperformance has cut its discount to
gold to around $70 an ounce from around $230 in January.
RBS analysts said in a note that gold is expected once again
to trade at an average discount of $50 an ounce to platinum in
the fourth quarter of 2012.
2:57 PM EST LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL
US Gold APR 1724.90 -0.40 0.0 1717.70 1735.40 98,878
US Silver MAR 33.722 0.118 0.4 33.455 34.035 35,288
US Plat APR 1649.70 -10.10 -0.6 1643.80 1670.70 7,065
US Pall MAR 698.55 -4.50 -0.6 696.00 706.65 2,812

Gold 1724.39 5.00 0.3 1716.63 1733.00
Silver 33.700 0.140 0.4 33.480 34.010
Platinum 1645.93 5.93 0.4 1645.00 1665.00
Palladium 693.48 -6.49 -0.9 698.50 704.16

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG
US Gold 105,976 192,978 194,098 20.25 -0.73
US Silver 47,519 45,218 42,491 33.1 -0.84
US Platinum 7,235 7,410 7,604 31 -3.00
US Palladium 3,372 4,146 4,422

($1 = 0.7566 euros)

(Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Dale Hudson)