MELBOURNE, March 21 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on
Monday, underpinned by a weaker dollar as the U.S. and European
central banks kept alive the prospect of cheaper capital for
longer.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was barely moved at $1,255.66 an ounce by
0208 GMT, having finished last week a tad higher. Prices are
consolidating below a 14-month peak of $1,282.51 struck on March
11, which was the highest since Jan 2015. Prices had slumped
below $1,050 a tonne in December.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 crept up 0.1 percent to $1,254.41.
* Market indicators are flashing signs that investors see
inflation - after it was almost non-existent since the credit
crisis - on the rise, despite scepticism from the Fed and the
relatively slow pace of U.S. economic growth.
* The dollar stayed on the defensive early on Monday, having
extended its losses for a third week in the wake of dovish
signals from the Federal Reserve.
* As central bank rhetoric turns more dovish, investors will
search for further hints of easing in a week with few data
releases to indicate whether years of loose monetary policy are
having any material effect.
* The European Central Bank can cut interest rates again if
the euro zone's economy fails to pick up and, under extreme
circumstances, it might even consider printing money and giving
it out directly to people, its chief economist said in a
newspaper interview published on Friday.
* Money managers trimmed their bullish gold bets from a
13-month high in the week to March 15, as they also cut a net
long position in copper, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
Commission data showed on Friday.
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TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* The S&P 500 closed in positive territory for the year for
the first time in 2016, leading a gauge of stocks across major
markets to a fifth week of gains, its longest weekly run in more
than two years. MKTS/GLOB
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0900 Euro zone Current account Jan
1230 U.S. National activity index Feb
1400 U.S. Existing home sales Feb
1500 Euro zone Consumer confidence Mar