MANILA, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Gold held near its highest level
since November early on Thursday after the Federal Reserve said
it was closely eyeing the global economy amid weakness seen from
China to Europe.
After keeping U.S. interest rates unchanged as expected, Fed
policymakers said the economy was still on track for moderate
growth and a stronger labor market even with "gradual" rate
increases, suggesting its concern about global events had
diminished but not squashed chances of a rate hike in March.
* Spot gold XAU= was off 0.2 percent at $1,122.46 an ounce
by 0041 GMT, not far below Wednesday's peak of $1,127.80, the
highest since Nov. 3.
* U.S. gold for February delivery GCcv1 gained 0.6 percent
to $1,122.40 per ounce.
* "The committee is closely monitoring global economic and
financial developments and is assessing their implications for
the labor market and inflation," the Fed said in its policy
statement following a two-day meeting.
* "Although the Fed's comments were not as dovish as hoped,
the continued expectation that future interest rate rises will
be slow and gradual will support" gold, MKS Group trader James
Gardiner wrote to clients.
* New U.S. single-family home sales surged in December to
their highest in 10 months, the latest indication that the
housing sector remains on a firmer footing despite a massive
stock market sell-off and slowing economic growth.
* Germany's Bundesbank took more than 200 tonnes of its gold
back to Frankfurt from overseas last year, the central bank
said, as it moves towards hoarding half of the world's
second-largest reserve at home.
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MARKET NEWS
* Asian share markets slipped after a late selloff on Wall
Street as investors were concerned the Federal Reserve might
continue raising rates despite a turbulent backdrop for
financial markets and much of the global economy. MKTS/GLOB
* The U.S. dollar was mixed versus major currencies and U.S.
crude futures fell more than 1 percent. USD/ O/R
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0700 Germany Import prices Dec
0930 Britain Preliminary GDP Q4
1000 Euro zone Business climate Jan
1300 Germany Consumer prices Jan
1330 U.S. Durable goods orders Dec
1330 U.S. Weekly jobless claims
1500 U.S. Pending home sales Dec