Int'l gold inches up, investors await policy clarity

Spot gold edged up 0.1% to $1,612.89 an ounce by 0030 GMT

Gold inched up on Wednesday as investors remained on the sidelines of the market awaiting clear signals from policy makers for trading cues.

Fundamentals

* Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,612.89 an ounce by 0030 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures contract for December delivery was flat at $1,616.

* Investors are awaiting data from China later in the day, including industrial output and fixed-asset investment, which are expected to show the economy starting to stabilise after reporting declining growth for six quarters.

* U.S. nonfarm productivity rose more than expected in the second quarter as companies expanded output but only modestly increased the hours worked by their employees, data from the Labor Department showed on Wednesday.

* A second fall in German imports in three months sent a worrying sign on Wednesday that even the domestic mood in the euro zone's last bastion of economic hope may be weakening under the pressure of the bloc's deepening debt crisis.

Market news

* The Standard & Poor's 500 just barely extended a streak of gains to a fourth day on Wednesday, ending above 1,400 in another thinly traded session.

* Investors took aim at the New Zealand dollar on Thursday on the back of a disappointing jobs report, but held their fire on others ahead of key data from China and Australia that could make or break risk sentiment.