PRECIOUS-Gold snaps 4-day decline, central bank meetings in focus
SINGAPORE, March 5 (Reuters) - Gold inched up on Tuesday to snap four sessions of decline, with investors expecting major central banks to stick to loose monetary policy at meetings this week, supporting bullion's appeal as a hedge against inflation. But the ongoing exodus from exchange-traded gold funds dragged on prices, with some investors regaining their appetite for riskier assets such as equities as the global economic outlook brightens.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold had inched up 0.1 percent to $1,575.60 an ounce by 0045 GMT.
* U.S. gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,575.30.
* Janet Yellen, the U.S. Federal Reserve's influential vice chair, said on Monday that the central bank's aggressive monetary stimulus is warranted given how far below its full potential the economy is operating.
* A number of central banks will hold policy meetings this week, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. The BOJ and the ECB are both expected to hold steady, while the BOE is seen under mounting pressure to relaunch its bond buying programme.
* Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell for the tenth straight session on March 4 to a seven-month low of 1,253.283 tonnes.
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday as investors staged a late-day rebound, extending a recent trend of buying on dips and pushing major indexes near all-time highs despite concerns about growth and China's housing market.
* The euro languished near a three-month low on Tuesday as investors kept a wary eye on political developments in Italy, while commodity currencies proved resilient with the Australian dollar bouncing off an eight-month trough.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0330 Australia RBA cash rate 0843 Italy Markit Adaci Services PMI 0848 France Markit Services PMI 0853 Germany Markit Services PMI 0858 Euro zone Markit Services PMI 1000 Euro zone Retail sales 1245 U.S. ICSC weekly chain store sales 1500 U.S. ISM Non-manufacturing PMI 1500 U.S. IBD/TIPP Consumer confidence
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0045 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1575.60 2.26 +0.14 -5.91 Spot Silver 28.61 0.06 +0.21 -5.52 Spot Platinum 1572.49 7.56 +0.48 2.44 Spot Palladium 716.13 1.66 +0.23 3.49 COMEX GOLD APR3 1575.30 2.90 +0.18 -6.00 1396 COMEX SILVER MAY3 28.63 0.13 +0.45 -5.31 430 Euro/Dollar 1.3027 Dollar/Yen 93.35
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Joseph Radford)