By: Angela Sharda

London 07/08/2012 - Gold gained in morning trade in Europe on Tuesday on a stronger euro, but market concerns over the debt crisis continue to weigh, traders said.

Gold was last at $1,615.10-1,615.36 per ounce, up $3.85 on Monday’s close - earlier the metal hit its peak at $1,616.50

“The broadly risk-friendly market, and in particular, the implications for the dollar helped support gold. Investors continue to eye possible moves by the Fed, and market opinion is skewed towards policy action,” ANZ research said.

By Tuesday morning, Spanish ten-year bonds were yielding 6.56 percent, with that of Italy dipping to 5.89 percent, on hopes that Spain may finally accept a formal sovereign bailout.

Datawise, Italian industrial production month-on-month came in for June at minus 1.4 percent, it was predicted at minus one percent.

The economic data today focuses on Europe with UK retail sales rising less than expected. Manufacturing production in the UK, German factory orders and Italian GDP are also due, while Fed Chairman Bernanke is also speaking this evening.

In wider markets, the euro was trading at 1.2411 versus the dollar. Earlier, the euro hit an intra-day high of 1.2433.

Later this week, China is due to release inflation rates and trade data for the month of July.

Chinese refined gold production rose 7.66 percent to 177 tonnes in the first six months of the year, the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said.  Gold production in June was 36.3 tonnes, up 16 percent from the previous month's 31.2 tonnes, the MIIT said on its website on Monday.

In India news, gold investors again sat on the sidelines on Tuesday as domestic prices continued to trade just below all-time highs, sources told FastMarkets. Gold per ten grams was last trading at 30,050 rupees, just below the record peak of 30,500 rupees hit earlier this year.

“Gold trading range for the day is 29,796-30,070,” Ajay Kumar, Kedia Commodities said.

Gold shipments from Hong Kong to mainland China, which is challenging India to become the world's biggest gold market, fell 10 percent in June from the previous month.

In the other precious metals, silver was last at $27.93-28.02 per ounce, up six cents from yesterday’s close. Palladium was last at $581-587, up $1.80 and platinum at $1,406-1,412 up $12 from Monday’s close.

(Editing by Martin Hayes)