Gold slips amid steady dollar; investors wary ahead of Jackson Hole meet

Gold prices were a touch lower amid a steady dollar early on Tuesday, with investors eying developments on the geopolitical front and remaining cautious ahead of an annual central banking meeting in Jackson Hole later this week.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold XAU= had slipped 0.1 percent to $1,289.77 an ounce by 0054 GMT, after rising 0.5 percent in the previous session

* U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery were down 0.1 percent to $1,295.30 per ounce.

* Asian shares edged higher on Tuesday, taking solace from modest gains on Wall Street even as investors remained wary ahead of the annual Jackson Hole gathering.[MKTS/GLOB]

* The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was steady at 93.107. [USD/]

* The United States and South Korean began long-planned joint military exercises on Monday, heightening tensions with North Korea which called the drills a "reckless" step towards nuclear conflict.

* U.S. workers see little hope for higher paychecks, and while they are increasingly searching for new jobs, they expect fewer offers to fall into their laps, according to a Federal Reserve survey published on Monday.

* A vast majority of Japanese firms do not want any further radical monetary easing, even though they believe the central bank's inflation goal will either take more than three years to achieve or is an impossible target, a Reuters poll showed.

* Emerging economies' debt in euros has shot to record highs thanks to European Central Bank largesse, and yet an approaching end to this generosity won't necessarily inflict the kind of pain that markets once suffered at the hands of the U.S. Fed.

* The Swiss National Bank will have to wait years before it can start winding down its huge foreign currency holdings for fear of triggering renewed rises in the Swiss franc that would hurt exporters.

* South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J) reported a first-half loss on Monday on costs related to layoffs and money set aside for litigation, but stuck to its full-year targets.