Gold steady on U.S. election uncertainty

(Reuters) - Gold held steady early on Thursday, after rising as much as 1.5 percent in the previous session, as uncertainty over the outcome of the U.S. election offset signals from the Federal Reserve it could hike interest rates next month.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up nearly 0.1 percent at $1,297.48 an ounce at 0049 GMT. The yellow metal touched a high of $1,307.76 in the previous session, its best since Oct 4.

* U.S. gold futures were down 0.8 percent at $1,298.50 per ounce.

* The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday in its last policy decision before the U.S. election, but signalled it could hike in December as the economy gathers momentum and inflation picks up.

* Asia shares eased on Thursday as a tightening U.S. presidential race saw the S&P 500 suffer its longest losing streak in five years as investors fled to safer harbours.

* The dollar nursed its losses on Thursday as deepening concerns about next week's contentions U.S. presidential election overshadowed the Federal Reserve's latest review where policy makers signalled they were on track to hike rates next month.

* Euro zone manufacturing activity accelerated at its fastest rate in nearly three years last month, supported by a buoyant performance from Germany, while inflationary pressures showed further signs of recovery, a survey found on Wednesday.

* Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday signalled that the central bank's massive asset purchases will continue to focus on government bonds, saying it was difficult to buy municipal bonds given the fairly small market for them.

* CME raised COMEX 100 Gold futures (GC) maintenance margins by 11.1 percent to $6,000 per contract from $5,400 for November and December 2016.

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman and Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)