* US dollar slides ahead of Fed meeting
* Australian dollar dips after quarter point rate hike
* Gold about $7 from record high on weak dlr, IMF gold sale
By Susan Fenton and Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The dollar slid on Tuesday,
pushing gold prices to near record highs, while Asian stocks
eased as investors awaited policy announcements from some key
central banks this week for clues on the timing of eventual
shifts in policy.
The Australian dollar <AUD=D4> slid on profit taking after
the Reserve Bank of Australia -- which last month became the
first G20 central bank to raise interest rates -- increased its
key cash rate by another quarter point as expected.
European stock futures eased, while U.S. equity futures
<SPc1> were flat with markets awaiting a two-day U.S. Federal
Reserve meeting due to begin later in the day.
The dollar fell 0.2 percent against a basket of major
currencies <.DXY> as the Fed is not expected to depart from a
policy of maintaining low rates for an extended period of time
although it could discuss how to prepare markets for an
eventual policy shift. []
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are
expected keep to rates unchanged when they announce policy
statements on Thursday.
The Aussie, which traded as high as $0.9092, hit a low of
$0.8990 after the RBA was careful not to fuel expectations of
another hike in December.
Housing prices are on a tear in Australia, similar to other
parts of Asia, keeping monetary authorities increasingly
willing to take action to prevent bubbles [], but
Tuesday's modest rate rise pointed to gradual not aggressive
tightening.
"Clearly the Reserve Bank did not want to frighten the
horses by lifting interest rates by half of one percent at this
time," said Craig James, chief equities economist at Comsec in
Australia. "It is a gradual approach to lifting interest
rates."
SWIRE SPIN-OFF
Share prices in Australia dipped while the MSCI index of
Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was down 0.8
percent.
Evidence of a sustained recovery in world industrial
activity may force policymakers to spell out the pace at which
unusually abundant and cheap money will be withdrawn
[] and Asian investors appear undecided about the
corporate earnings outlook for this quarter, analysts said.
The Thomson Reuters index of regional stocks <.TRXFLDAXPU>
was up 0.4 percent.
Japan's market was shut because of a public holiday.
In Manila, shares of Manila Electric Co (Meralco) <MER.PS>
rallied 13 percent in reaction to news that the son of a local
mall tycoon had made a surprise offer to buy a stake in the
firm.
In Hong Kong, shares of Swire Pacific <0019.HK> jumped 3
percent by lunchtime after the conglomerate on Monday said it
was considering spinning off its property unit.
Share markets in China outperformed the region with the
Shanghai composite index <> up 1.2 percent as solid
earnings and economic data this week continued to encourage
investors.
U.S. dollar weakness pushed the price of gold <XAU> up to
$1,063 an ounce, from $1,059 in late New York trade and within
sight of a record high $1,070.40, struck on Oct. 14.
Gold is up around 20 percent this year, and will likely
keep its record of not having a down year since 2000.
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday it sold 200
tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for $6.8 billion,
quietly executing half of a long-planned bullion sale that had
threatened to slow gold's rally. []
While the IMF's plan to sell some of its gold holdings had
been flagged for a year before it was formally approved in
September, the speed of the deal and the buyer were a surprise
for traders, who had expected China -- not India -- to be the
leading contender as Beijing diversifies its vast reserves.
"The fact that they've sold the gold to India would suggest
there's going to be fewer official sales by the IMF on the
market. So that might be a positive theme for the gold price,"
said David Moore, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank
of Australia.
This was the first time since 2000 that the IMF sold gold
to a central bank.
U.S. oil futures <CLc1> were essentially unchanged and
remained above $78 a barrel. Crude's break of $80 ran out of
steam in October, though near-term direction is largely pinned
on the U.S. dollar.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag and Bruce Hextall in
SYDNEY; Editing by Kazunori Takada)
