Gold prices steady as interest rate outlook pressures dollar

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices held near seven-month highs on Thursday as the dollar was pressured by rising expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady this year, while investors also waited for further news on Sino-U.S. trade talks.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was a tad lower at $1,292.46 per ounce at 0141 GMT, hovering near Friday's peak of $1,298.42 - a level last seen in June.

* U.S. gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $1,293.20 per ounce.

* Palladium dipped 0.8 percent to $1,316.00, having scaled an all-time peak of $1,342.43 per ounce on Wednesday after a Chinese official said the government was contemplating policies to increase domestic buying of automobiles.

* The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against major currencies, was marginally lower during early Asian trade.

* A range of U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers said last month that they could be patient about future interest rate increases and a few did not support the central bank's rate increase that month, minutes from their Dec. 18-19 policy meeting showed.

* China's commerce ministry said on Thursday that trade talks with the United States this week were extensive, deep and detailed, and established a foundation for the resolution of each others' concerns.

* Asian shares began cautiously on Thursday, struggling to rise after a multi-day rally.

* U.S. President Donald Trump stormed out of talks with Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday over funding for a border wall with Mexico and reopening the government, complaining the meeting in the White House was "a total waste of time".

* The U.S. government is currently on the 19th day of a partial shutdown caused by the dispute over the wall.

* Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered an early defeat to her Brexit plans on Wednesday when parliament demanded the government come up with a plan-B within days if she loses a vote on her deal to leave the European Union.

* Holding in the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.33 percent to 799.18 tonnes on Wednesday. [GOL/ETF]

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0130 China Consumer prices(Dec)

0130 China Producer prices(Dec)

1330 U.S. Initial jobless claims

1745 U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks at Economic Club of Washington

(Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)