SINGAPORE, March 15 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on
Tuesday, trading near last session's lowest level in almost two
weeks, with investors focused on closely watched policy meetings
of U.S. and Japanese central banks.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was flat at 1,234.90 an ounce by 0040 GMT
while U.S. gold GCcv1 lost 0.7 percent to $1,236 an ounce.
Spot gold dropped on Monday to $1,228.9, lowest since March 2.
* Most investors expect the Bank of Japan to hold policy
steady on Tuesday, as Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has said he hopes
to spend more time assessing the impact on the economy of its
negative interest rate policy that it unveiled in January.
* The U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting will
start on Tuesday and be watched for clues on the future pace of
U.S. rate increases.
* Further U.S. rate hikes could lift the opportunity cost of
holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in
which it is priced. The metal has risen 16 percent this year as
expectations for further near-term hikes faded.
* The weak move in gold over the last two sessions followed
Friday's brief bounce to a 13-month high after the European
Central Bank signalled an end to rate cuts and the euro rose
sharply versus the dollar. Gold is highly sensitive to monetary
policy and resulting currency moves.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 1.08 percent to
790.14 tonnes on Monday from 798.77 tonnes on Friday. In terms
of ounces, holdings HLDSPDRGT=XAU fell to 25,403,927.26 ounces
from 25,681,155.43.
* Hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish
COMEX gold position to the highest in 13 months in the week to
March 8, the eighth increase in the last nine weeks, data showed
on Friday.
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MARKET NEWS
* The dollar was steady in Asian trade on Tuesday, with the
yen on deck as investors waited for the outcome of the Bank of
Japan's two-day policy meeting later in the session.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
Bank of Japan policy meeting
0430 Japan Industrial Output Rev, Jan JPIP4=ECI
0745 France CPI Final MM Feb FRHIC=ECI
0100 Eurozone Employment Q4 EUEMPQ=ECI
1230 U.S. PPI Final Demand MM Feb USPPFD=ECI
1230 U.S. Retail Sales MM Feb USRSL=ECI
1255 U.S. Redbook MM USREDM=ECI
1400 U.S. Business Inventories MM Jan USBINV=ECI
1400 U.S. NAHB Housing Market Index March USNAHB=ECI