Gold prices nearly flat as investors wait for Fed outcome

(Reuters) - Gold was steady on Wednesday, with investors in wait-and-see mode ahead of the outcome of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting in the United States.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was flat at $1,310.93 an ounce at 0039 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery were up 0.3 percent to $1,314.40 an ounce.

* SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.25 percent to 846.03 tonnes on Tuesday from 843.96 tonnes on Monday. [GOL/ETF]

* The dollar was steady versus the yen and against a basket a currencies early on Wednesday.

* Asian shares were mostly steady after Wall Street closed at record highs. [MKTS/GLOB]

* U.S. Treasury yields rose slightly on Tuesday as investors waited on the conclusion of the Fed's two-day policy meeting on Wednesday for new indications on whether an additional interest rate hike is likely this year. [US/]

* U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his standoff with North Korea over its nuclear challenge on Tuesday, threatening to "totally destroy" the country of 26 million people and mocking its leader, Kim Jong Un, as a "rocket man".

* European Central Bank policymakers disagree on whether to set a definitive end-date for their money-printing programme when they meet in October, raising the chance that they will keep open at least the option of prolonging it again, six sources told Reuters.

* The mood among German investors improved more than expected in September as worries about the stronger euro faded, suggesting that markets expect Europe's biggest economy to continue its solid performance in coming months.

* U.S. homebuilding fell for a second straight month in August as a rebound in the construction of single-family houses was offset by persistent weakness in the volatile multifamily home segment.

(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)