Spot gold held steady on
Thursday below a two-week high hit in the previous session,
supported by inflation concerns after China raised rates for the
third time this year.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $1,526.71 an ounce
by 23:38 GMT. It hit a two-week high of $1,533.45 in the previous
session.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 edged down 0.1 percent to $1,527.20.
* China's rate hike on Wednesday, the third time this year,
made it clear that taming inflation remains a top priority even
as the growth pace of the world's second-largest economy eases.
* Supporting the sentiment, a strike by about 8,000 workers
at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's mine in Indonesia
entered its fourth day, and is said to have paralysed production
at the mine which holds the world's biggest gold reserve.
* The European Central Bank is set to hike euro zone
interest rates on Thursday and is expected to show no sign of
softening its hard-line stance that Greece must not be allowed
to default on its debts.
* Investors are also watching two job market reports from
the United States -- the weekly initial jobless claims and ADP
employment report, which will shed light on the key monthly
non-farm payrolls data due Friday.
MARKET NEWS
* Transportation stocks were among the standouts in another
flat session for U.S. equities on Wednesday, and the sector's
rally could be cause for optimism ahead.
* The euro languished at one-week lows versus the dollar in
Asia on Thursday, faced with little recovery prospect as worries
about European sovereign debt problems outweighed a widely
expected interest rate hike by the European Central Bank.