March 8 (Reuters) - Gold prices held steady early onThursday as markets waited for more details on U.S. PresidentDonald Trump's proposed steel and aluminum tariffs and theoutcome of the European Central Bank's policy meeting.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= rose 0.1 percent to $1,326.40 per ounceat 0058 GMT. It hit its highest in a week on Wednesday at$1,340.42.
* U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were mostly unchanged at $1,327.
* The White House said late Wednesday that Canada, Mexicoand possibly other countries may be exempted from the proposedsteel and aluminium tariffs. Trump is expected to sign a presidential proclamationestablishing the tariffs during a ceremony scheduled for 2030GMT on Thursday, a source familiar with the situation said.
* The European Central Bank is all but certain to keeppolicy unchanged on Thursday but may tweak its communicationstance to offer at least a few clues about its progress towardsending its unprecedented bond purchases later this year. Businesses are reporting persistent labor market tightnessacross the United States, with accelerating wage gains in manyregions, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a report thatbolstered the case for interest rate increases. SPDR Gold Trust GLD (NYSE:GLD), the world's largest gold-backedexchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.03 percent to833.73 tonnes on Wednesday from 833.98 tonnes on Tuesday.
GOL/ETF
* The five banks that settle every transaction in London's$6.8 trillion a year gold market are changing the rules of theirclearing house to make it easier for newcomers to join. India's gold imports in February dropped a quarter from ayear ago to 63 tonnes as higher prices curtailed demand in theworld's second-biggest consumer of bullion, provisional datafrom precious metals consultancy GFMS and bank dealers showed. Gold mining in Africa has a bad rap — particularly when itcomes to women. But in the gold mining belt of Mali, one of theworld's poorest countries, the victimization lens does greatinjustice to the hundreds of women mining alongside men. AHEAD (GMT)
China Trade data
Feb
1245 European Central Bank interest rate announcement
1330 U.S.
Weekly jobless claims