Gold steady as investors await U.S. rate clues

By Jan Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Wednesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this weekend which will be closely watched for further clues on U.S. interest rate policy.

Yellen is scheduled to address a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Recent hawkish comments from policymakers have raised investors' expectations that she might adopt a less cautious tone on rates.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates, as these increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.

Spot gold was at $1,336.76 an ounce at 1145 GMT, little changed from $1,337.35 an ounce late on Tuesday.

"Volatility (in gold) is very low, and that means people are waiting for new information that they can price in," LBBW analyst Thorsten Proettel said. "Many people are looking to Jackson Hole, and what is going to be said there."

While recent comments from Fed officials have supported expectations that rates will rise sooner rather than later, minutes from the U.S. central bank's July 26-27 policy meeting showed officials remain divided over whether it is time to act.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are pricing in a 21 percent chance of a rate increase in September, and a 50 percent chance of at least one rise by the end of the year.

Expectations the Fed will hold off on further rate increases have been behind a more than 25 percent rally in gold this year, with prices further underpinned by concerns over threats to global economic growth.

"Despite the improving U.S.-centric fundamentals, we expect investors to remain long in gold given the need to insure against wild cards into the year, namely the growth risk from Brexit into 2017 and the upcoming November's U.S. presidential elections," OCBC Bank analyst Barnabas Gan said in a note.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery were down $5.00 an ounce at $1,341.10.

Spot silver was up 0.2 percent at $18.81, off a more than seven-week low of $18.77 touched on Monday.

China's silver imports in July fell 36 percent year-on-year, customs data showed on Wednesday, while its platinum imports were down by nearly half. Palladium imports rose 17 percent in July, however, and were up 28 percent in the first seven months of the year.

Platinum was up 0.3 percent at $1,102.20. Palladium was down 0.2 percent at $695.25, after hitting a one-week low of $680.20 in the previous session.

(Additional reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and David Clarke)