Gold steadies after three-day rise ahead of ECB meeting

By Jan Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold steadied after three days of gains on Wednesday as traders took to the sidelines ahead of a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting later in the day which is expected to give clues about the outlook for euro zone monetary policy.

While the bank is not expected to make any changes to its asset purchase programme until December, investors are seeking more clarity from President Mario Draghi about speculation that it could begin tapering its bond purchases. [FRX/]

Spot gold was at $1,269.20 an ounce at 0935 GMT, little changed from $1,268.90 late on Wednesday, while U.S. December gold futures were up 20 cents at $1,270.10.

"The focus today will be the ECB meeting where the market is looking for clarification on a number of issues," Saxo Bank's head of commodity research Ole Hansen said. "(People are looking for guidance on) bond tapering and further signs that additional measures are off the table."

Gold prices are up 1.5 percent this week, on track to snap three weeks of losses. The precious metal has regained some technical momentum after closing on Wednesday above its 200-day moving average of $1,267.

The euro held near a three-month low against the dollar ahead of the ECB meeting, offering little direction to gold. Stocks inched higher after the third and final U.S. presidential debate, which was judged not to have improved Donald Trump's election hopes. [MKTS/GLOB]

That weighed on gold. A win for Democrat Hillary Clinton is now clearly predicted by polls, and is seen as easing the way for a rise in interest rates, heavily tipped by a number of Federal Reserve policymakers for December. [FRX/]

India's overseas purchases of gold likely hit a nine-month high in October as a flip in domestic prices to a premium prompted banks and refiners to resume imports ahead of the festival season, industry officials told Reuters.

Swiss gold exports to China hit their highest since January last month, Swiss customs data showed on Thursday, though a sharp drop in shipments to Hong Kong meant exports to the two combined were sharply lower than a year earlier.

"Significantly more gold was shipped directly to China," Commerzbank said in a note. "What is more, Swiss gold exports to India climbed to their highest level since January, which points to demand recovering there."

Among other precious metals, silver was flat at $17.63 an ounce, while platinum was down 0.2 percent at $941 an ounce and palladium was down 0.5 percent at $632.95 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Apeksha Nair and Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by David Clarke)