MANILA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Friday after
recent gains that lifted the metal to its highest since
November, keeping it on track to end January with its strongest
monthly climb in a year.
Fresh data released on Thursday showed new orders for U.S.
durable goods posted their biggest drop in 16 months in
December, suggesting that growth in the world's top economy
braked sharply at the end of 2015.
* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,114.01 an ounce
by 0041 GMT. Profit-taking on Thursday caused bullion to retreat
from a 12-week high of $1,127.80 reached the previous day. For
the month, gold was up 5 percent, its biggest such gain since
January last year.
* Gains on Wednesday were spurred by the Federal Reserve's
statement where it acknowledged the challenges facing the global
economy and financial markets.
* The U.S. central bank has now put the world on notice that
the slide in oil prices and sharp slowdown in global growth may
be capable of changing the Fed's bias from implying a steady set
of future rate hikes to one pointing to an extended pause or
even a rate cut driven by stubbornly low inflation.
* The weak durable goods orders for December underlines
expectations that the Fed's tightening cycle could be on hold.
The data comes ahead of U.S. fourth-quarter gross domestic
product due later on Friday.
* Economists polled by Reuters suggest U.S. GDP growth of
0.80 percent in October-December and annual expansion of 2.5
percent in 2016. ECON
* U.S. gold for February delivery GCcv1 was off 0.1
percent at $1,114.50 an ounce.
* With gold holding firm as oil prices tumbled to their
lowest since 2003 this month, an ounce of bullion reached the
equivalent in price of nearly 40 barrels of Brent crude oil
LCOc1 - more than at any time since 1986.
* The official London benchmark price for silver settled on
Thursday more than 80 cents below the spot price, sparking
concern among traders who say it is too easy for the benchmark
to deviate from the current spot price.
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MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares got off to a tentative start after oil
cobbled together a third session of gains and markets wagered
U.S. interest rates would not be rising much this year, if at
all.
* The U.S. dollar languished at two-week lows in the face of
disappointing U.S. economic data. USD/
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0630 France Preliminary GDP Q4
0700 Germany Retail sales Dec
1000 Euro zone Inflation Jan
1330 U.S. Advance GDP Q4
1445 U.S. Chicago PMI Jan