Gold rises as Fed keeps U.S. interest rates steady

Gold edged up early on Thursday on a weaker dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept U.S. interest rates steady.

FUNDAMENTALS

• Spot gold had risen 0.3 percent to $1,212.85 an ounce by 0045 GMT. U.S. gold futures climbed 0.6 percent to $1,215.10.
• The Fed kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday in its first meeting since President Donald Trump took office, but painted a relatively upbeat picture of the U.S. economy that suggested it was on track to tighten monetary policy this year.
• *The Fed could hike interest rates as many as four timesthis year, a move that markets are not sufficiently anticipating, BlackRock Inc's chief investment officer of global fixed income said on Wednesday.
• U.S. factory activity accelerated to more than a two-yearhigh in January amid sustained gains in new orders, pointing to a recovery in manufacturing.
• Factories across the world fired up - or at least kept up activity in January with some registering multi-year output highs, just as a barrage of political risks threatens the global economy with potential harm.
• The Bank of England will probably try on Thursday to avoid adding to speculation about a first interest rate hike in nearly a decade.
• The Bank of Japan's next policy move will be to raise, not cut, its bond yield targets even if the yen climbs in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's comments accusing Japan of deliberately devaluing its currency.
• Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 1.34 percent to 809.74 tonnes on Wednesday from Tuesday.
• In a British warehouse to the northwest of the city of Cardiff, the Royal Mint is running its machines through the night to keep up with demand for one of the big beneficiaries of the last year's political turmoil - gold and silver bullion.
• Centamin, operator of Egypt's only commercial gold mine, expects to pay about $100 million in its first full year of profit-sharing with the government in 2017.

DATA AHEAD (GMT)
1000 Euro zone Producer prices Dec
1205 Bank of England announces interest rate decision
1330 U.S. Weekly jobless claims
1445 U.S. ISM-New York index Jan