SINGAPORE, March 15 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on Tuesday, trading near last session's lowest level in almost two weeks, with investors focused on closely watched policy meetings of U.S. and Japanese central banks.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was flat at 1,234.90 an ounce by 0040 GMT while U.S. gold GCcv1 lost 0.7 percent to $1,236 an ounce. Spot gold dropped on Monday to $1,228.9, lowest since March 2.
* Most investors expect the Bank of Japan to hold policy steady on Tuesday, as Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has said he hopes to spend more time assessing the impact on the economy of its negative interest rate policy that it unveiled in January. The U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting will start on Tuesday and be watched for clues on the future pace of U.S. rate increases.
* Further U.S. rate hikes could lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced. The metal has risen 16 percent this year as expectations for further near-term hikes faded.
* The weak move in gold over the last two sessions followed Friday's brief bounce to a 13-month high after the European Central Bank signalled an end to rate cuts and the euro rose sharply versus the dollar. Gold is highly sensitive to monetary policy and resulting currency moves.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 1.08 percent to 790.14 tonnes on Monday from 798.77 tonnes on Friday. In terms of ounces, holdings HLDSPDRGT=XAU fell to 25,403,927.26 ounces from 25,681,155.43.
* Hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish COMEX gold position to the highest in 13 months in the week to March 8, the eighth increase in the last nine weeks, data showed on Friday. For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar was steady in Asian trade on Tuesday, with the yen on deck as investors waited for the outcome of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting later in the session.
DATA AHEAD (GMT) Bank of Japan policy meeting 0430 Japan
Industrial Output Rev, Jan
JPIP4=ECI 0745 France
CPI Final MM Feb
FRHIC=ECI 0100 Eurozone Employment Q4
EUEMPQ=ECI 1230 U.S.
PPI Final Demand MM Feb
USPPFD=ECI 1230 U.S.
Retail Sales MM Feb
USRSL=ECI 1255 U.S.
Redbook MM
USREDM=ECI 1400 U.S.
Business Inventories MM Jan
USBINV=ECI 1400 U.S.
NAHB Housing Market Index March USNAHB=ECI