Asia gold flat as investors eye China data, euro zone

Gold traded little changed on Thursday - after rising for two days on a weakened dollar - as investors marked time ahead of key economic data from China and a euro zone summit.

Fundamentals

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,749.40 an ounce by 0017 GMT.

* U.S. gold inched down 0.1 percent to $1,751.10.

* Groundbreaking on new U.S. homes surged in September to its fastest pace in more than four years, a sign the housing sector's budding recovery is gaining traction and supporting the wider economic recovery.

* Spain has set a 90-billion-euro limit for the size of a bad bank created to take over other financial entities' toxic real estate assets, a necessary step to obtain European funding for the sector.

* All eyes are on a string of Chinese economic data due later in the day, including third-quarter gross domestic product figure which is expected to show China's economic growth slowed for a seventh straight quarter to the weakest level since the depths of the global financial crisis.

* Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds stood at 74.804 million ounces, not far off a record of 75.03 million ounces hit last week.

* Investors will also closely watch a two-day summit of European leaders, among growing speculation that Spain will ask for a bailout next month, as the single currency bloc struggles to contain its debt crisis.

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Market news

* The S&P 500 rose for the third consecutive day on Wednesday after housing starts hit a four-year high, but the Dow was weighed down by IBM after it posted weak revenue.

* The euro and Australian dollar hovered at multi-week highs on Thursday, but could see a setback in their two-day rally if a slew of economic reports on China renew worries about the health of the world's second biggest economy.