Gold steady, but on track for seventh straight weekly loss

(Reuters) - Gold held little changed early on Friday and was on track for a seventh straight weekly decline amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will opt for more interest rate hikes in 2017.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold > was steady at $1,128.76 an ounce by 0038 GMT. Bullion closed down 0.2 percent on Thursday. The yellow metal was on track to end the week down nearly 0.5 percent.

* U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,130 per ounce.

* New orders for U.S.-made capital goods rose more than expected in November. Other data on Thursday showed that third-quarter U.S. economic growth beat expectations.

 

* But the number of Americans applying for unemployment aid hit a six-month high last week and U.S. consumer spending increased modestly in November.

* More consistent evidence of U.S. economic strength could prompt the Fed to tighten credit again sooner than later. Higher rates discourage buying of non-interest-paying bullion, which is priced in dollars.

* Global investors' equity holdings rose to six-month highs in December on bets that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's promised fiscal splurge would spur higher growth and inflation, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday.

* China's leadership is signalling growth will slow slightly in 2017, policy advisers say, as it struggles to strike a balance between supporting the economy with loose credit conditions and preventing a destabilising build-up in debt.

* Japan's cabinet approved on Thursday a record $830 billion spending budget for fiscal 2017 that counts on low interest rates and a weak yen to limit borrowing, underscoring the challenge Tokyo faces in curbing the industrial world's heaviest debt burden.

* Russia and Kazakhstan raised their gold reserves in November, data from the International Monetary Fund showed on Thursday.

(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)