Gold steady on subdued stocks, set for second weekly gain

(Reuters) - Gold prices held steady on Friday amid a flat dollar and subdued Asian stocks, with the metal staying on track for its second straight weekly gain.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold was little changed at $1,268.31 per ounce at 0111 GMT. The safe-haven asset is up about 0.2 percent so far this week.

U.S. gold futures were nearly flat at $1,269.10 per ounce.

Demand for bullion is expected to pick up ahead of upcoming festivals in India such as Dhanteras and Diwali, when gold is traditionally given as a gift.

Asian stocks made a subdued start on Friday, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edging down 0.l percent, reflecting Wall Street's unconvincing performance overnight. [MKTS/GLOB]

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was steady at 98.886.

New orders for U.S. manufactured capital goods unexpectedly fell in September amid weak demand for computers and electronic products, which could temper expectations for an acceleration in business spending in the fourth quarter.

The European Central Bank (ECB) will decide in December on the mechanism for prolonging its quantitative easing asset purchase programme, an ECB policymaker said on Thursday.

Strong growth data in Britain prompted the worst daily sell-off in gilts for months and pushed yields on the world's benchmark bonds higher on Thursday, as expectations for a Bank of England rate cut fell.

As his term winds down, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has retreated from both the radical policies and rhetoric of his early tenure, suggesting there will be no further monetary easing except in response to a big external shock.

Physical gold demand slumped by nearly a third in the three months to September, GFMS analysts at Thomson Reuters said on Thursday, as a rally in prices curbed jewellery buying in the key Chinese and Indian markets.

Investors pulled $902 million from U.S.-based funds invested in gold and other precious metals, Lipper data for the latest week showed on Thursday, as a stronger dollar and interest-rate hike fears weighed on the safe-haven asset.

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