Asia gold inches up after two-day slide, firm dollar weighs

Spot gold edged up 0.2% to $1,777.39 an ounce by 0027 GMT

Gold inched up on Tuesday, after two straight days of losses, but a strong dollar as a result of worries over the euro zone debt crisis is expected to keep bullion under pressure.

Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds hit a record high on Monday, suggesting that investor interest in bullion remained strong.

Fundamentals

* Spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,777.39 an ounce by 0027 GMT, rebounding from a one-week low of $1,766.14 hit on Monday. Gold fell almost 1 percent over the last two sessions, its sharpest two-day decline since August.

* U.S. gold also crawled up 0.2 percent to $1,779.50.

* Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund held a "thorough and robust" debate on Greece on Monday, but failed to make significant progress in deciding how best to get the country back on track with its bailout programme.

* Meanwhile, Spain has not yet requested a bailout, though market participants said it is just a matter of time before Madrid asks for international aid.

* The outlook for the world's major economies including the United States and Germany has deteriorated slightly, although China may be stabilising after a recent slowdown, the OECD said on Monday.

* The World Bank cut its economic growth forecasts for the East Asia and Pacific region on Monday and said there was a risk the slowdown in China could worsen and last longer than many analysts have forecast.

* Concerns about the global economy, in addition to data from last Friday showing improving U.S. job market, lifted the dollar index from a two-week low hit last Friday.

* Holdings of gold ETFs rose to a historical high of 74.73 million ounces by October 7.

* South Africa's local government workers' union said on Monday it would launch a strike over pay in the next few days, the first sign of a wave of labour unrest in Africa's biggest economy spreading from the mines into the public sector.

Market news

* U.S. stocks slipped in light trading on Monday, pulling back from recent five-year highs ahead of an earnings season expected to be weak.

* The euro was little changed on Tuesday, after slipping from a two-week high against the dollar and yen in the previous session as worries about the euro zone debt crisis persisted.