* Gold in tight range after three-day slide
* Fed's Dudley says Sept rate rise "less compelling"
* Coming up: U.S. Q2 GDP second estimate at 1230 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Thursday after
suffering its biggest fall in five weeks in the prior session as
stock markets recovered, but indications that a U.S. rate hike
might happen later than expected kept a floor under prices.
Cheered by Wall Street's rebound, Asian stocks rose led by
Chinese markets whose deep tumble this week fed a global rout.
"Gold has been correlated a lot with stock markets in the
past couple of days due to the fear globally," said Howie Lee,
an analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. "It's not surprising
to see gold come back off as stocks stabilise."
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1 percent at $1,126.65 an ounce by
0602 GMT, after dropping 1.3 percent on Wednesday, its steepest
decline since July 20.
Bullion fell to a one-week low of $1,117.35 overnight,
taking its losses this week to nearly 3 percent.
U.S. gold for December delivery GCcv1 edged up 0.2 percent
to $1,126.40 an ounce.
Providing some support to gold were comments by New York Fed
President William Dudley on Thursday that the prospect of a
September rate increase looks "less compelling" given the threat
posed to the U.S. economy by recent market turmoil.
ID:nL1N11110H
"The world is in no state to endure a rate hike from the
U.S. at this point. It will just cause further collapse in the
stock markets," said Lee at Phillip Futures.
Gold is holding above $1,100 support as U.S. rate hike
expectations this year slowly shift to December from next month,
said Lee. When those expectations were tilted towards September,
bullion was closer to $1,000, he said.
The precious metal is still up nearly 5 percent from a
5-1/2-year low of $1,077 reached in July, but has given up more
than 3 percent since touching a seven-week top of $1,168.40 last
week.
"Turmoil across global markets did little to bring people
back to gold as investors ignored the metal's haven appeal and
focused on the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates," ANZ Bank
said in a note.
Investors will be eyeing key U.S. data tonight for more
clues on the rate hike timing, including a second estimate for
second-quarter gross domestic product and weekly jobless claims.
A Reuters poll showed that U.S. second-quarter GDP growth
would be revised up to 3.2 percent from the 2.3 percent advance
estimate last month. USGDPP=ECI
Other precious metals rebounded from this week's slide.
Spot platinum XPT= climbed 1 percent to $986.50 and silver
XAG= gained 0.6 percent to $14.20. Palladium XPD= gained 0.4
percent to $534.50 an ounce after falling to a near five-year
low of $518 on Wednesday.