Aug 6 (Reuters) - Gold prices extended gains for a fifth

straight session on Wednesday, helped by prospects of lower U.S.

interest rates, while investors looked forward to President

Donald Trump's decision on Federal Reserve appointments.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1% at $3,383.67 per ounce as of

0036 GMT, after hitting a near two-week high on Tuesday. U.S.

gold futures also gained 0.1% to $3,439.20.

* Trump on Tuesday said he would announce decisions soon on

a short-term replacement for Federal Reserve Governor Adriana

Kugler, who announced her resignation on Friday, as well as his

pick for the next Fed chair.

* Traders are currently pricing in two rate cuts by this

year-end, beginning in September, after Friday's unexpectedly

weak June hiring data, following which Trump fired the

commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

* Lower U.S. interest rates put pressure on the dollar and

bond yields, increasing the appeal of non-yielding bullion.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed

exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.12% to 955.94

tonnes on Tuesday from 954.80 tonnes on Monday.

* On the trade front, Trump again threatened to raise

tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases,

while New Delhi called his attack "unjustified" and vowed to

protect its economic interests, deepening the trade rift between

the two countries.

* Focus now shifts to next week's U.S. consumer price index

data that could offer more cues on the Fed interest rate path.

* Wall Street economists expect the underlying CPI for July

to have edged up to 0.3% and 3.0% on a monthly and year-on-year

basis, respectively, according to a Reuters poll.

* Elsewhere, spot silver eased 0.1% to $37.78 per

ounce, platinum slipped 0.4% to $1,314.95 and palladium

fell 0.2% to $1,172.39.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 Germany Industrial Orders MM, Consumer Goods SA June

0600 Germany Manufacturing O/P Cur Price SA June

0830 UK S&P GLOBAL PMI: MSC COMPOSITE - OUTPUT July