Gold prices were flat on Wednesday as the dollar held firm, although expectations of slower pace of interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve limited losses in zero-yielding bullion.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was unchanged at $1,907.59 per ounce, as of 0053 GMT. U.S. gold futures were flat at $1,910.30.

* The dollar index edged up 0.1%. A stronger dollar tends to make bullion more expensive for other currency holders.

* The U.S. central bank raised rates by 75 basis points (bps) four times last year, before slowing to a 50 bps increase in December. Traders are mostly pricing in a 25 bps rate hike increase at the Fed's next policy meeting.

* Lower rates tend to be beneficial for gold, as they decrease the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

* Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp on Tuesday reported a 13.4% sequential rise in gold production in what could be its highest quarterly output last year.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.3% to 909.24 tonnes on Tuesday.

* Spot silver was steady at $23.91, platinum fell 0.1% to $1,038.19 while palladium lost 0.2% to $1,740.64.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0700 UK Core CPI YY Dec

0700 UK CPI YY Dec

1000 EU HICP Final MM, YY Dec

1330 US PPI Machine Manug'ing Dec

1330 US Retail Sales MM Dec

1415 US Industrial Production MM Dec (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)