TOKYO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Gold held steady near $1,100 an ounce on Tuesday as recent sharp losses offered some bargain hunting incentives, but key events including a U.S. interest rate decision later in the week kept investors cautious.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold <XAU=> was up 0.1 percent at $1,099.40 per ounce, compared to New York's notional close of $1,097.95.
* U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG0> inched up 0.3 percent to $1,099.60 per ounce, compared to $1,095.70 an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
* Investors awaited key events including option expirations on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange and first notice day later this week, the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, both on Wednesday.
* On Friday gold hit a near five-week low at $1,081.90 after news of Obama's proposal to limit financial risk-taking hit the broader commodities markets.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,111.922 tonnes as of Jan. 25, unchanged from the previous business day. [
]* Holdings of ETF Securities' U.S.-based platinum exchange-traded fund <PPLTiv.P> rose 10 percent on Friday, while those of its U.S. palladium product <PALLiv.P> climbed by a third, the company said on Monday. [
]MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks snapped a three-day slide on Monday as signs that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would win a U.S. Senate vote for a second term helped ease investors' concerns. [
]* The dollar was steady on Tuesday, holding on to gains made against the yen the previous day when news that Bernanke edged closer to winning support for a second term helped ease anxiety among investors. Strong demand in Greece's five-year debt sale eased concerns about fiscal problems in the euro zone, lending the euro some modest support against the dollar. [
]DATA EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Tuesday: <ECON>
- ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark speaks. (0800 GMT)
- Germany January IFO index. (0900 GMT)
- Euro zone November current account. (0900 GMT)
- Bank of England Governor Mervyn King testifies. (N/A)
- U.S. Federal Open Market Committee begins two-day policy meeting. (N/A)
- Redbook weekly U.S. retail sales. (1355 GMT)
- U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for November. (1400 GMT)
- U.S. consumer confidence for January. (1500 GMT)
- Richmond Fed manufacturing, services indexes for January. (1500 GMT)
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]PRICES
Precious metals prices at 2350 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg 2 Day chg MA 30 RSI Spot gold $1099.00 $1.05 +0.10% -5.09% $1114.80 32 Spot silver $17.14 $0.02 +0.12% -5.72% $17.68 28 Spot plat $1550.50 $4.00 +0.26% +0.26% $1518.22 40 COMEX gold $1099.00 $1.20 +0.11% +0.85% $1119.15 36 TOCOM gold 3,195 -12 -0.37% +0.92% 3,290 32 TOCOM plat 4,474 -29 -0.64% +0.74% 4,486 38 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.415 $0.000 +0.01% -0.05% Dlr/yen 90.42 0.18 +0.20% +0.13% TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Michael Watson)