Gold prices steadied on Monday as traders braced for fresh data on U.S. economic growth and the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge due later this week, ahead of the central bank's interest rate verdict next week.

 

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold edged 0.1% higher to $2,030.87 per ounce by 0116 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures rose 0.2% to $2,033.00.

* The U.S. dollar index fell 0.1%, making greenback-denominated gold less expensive for foreign currency holders.

* Yields on benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury notes slipped from an over a month high to 4.1149%.

* Bullion recorded its biggest weekly decline in six last week, after U.S. central bankers pushed back against expectations of early interest rate cuts.

* Last week, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said that the Fed needs more inflation data in hand before any rate cut judgment could be made. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the baseline for cuts to start was in the third quarter.

* U.S. consumer sentiment improved in January to the highest level since the summer of 2021, a survey showed last week, on the heels of solid labor market and retail sales data indicating the economy remained firm.

* Fed officials are in blackout this week ahead of the next meeting on Jan. 30-31.

* The odds of a Fed rate cut in March have dropped to 55% from about 71% two weeks ago, according to LSEG's interest rate probability app IRPR.

* Investors will be watching out for U.S. Q4 advance GDP estimates due on Thursday and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data on Friday.

* Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding bullion.

* Spot silver rose 0.1% to $22.63 per ounce, platinum climbed 0.4% to $902.21, and palladium gained 0.4% to $950.47.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0830 Hong Kong CPI NSA Dec 1500 US Leading Index Chg MM Dec 2100 Japan PPI Growth Dec 2130 NZ Business PSI Dec (Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)