SINGAPORE, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Gold drifted in a tight range on Wednesday, holding overnight losses, as investors awaited cues from the dollar and oil markets in thin pre-holiday trade.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,073.46 an ounce by 0040 GMT. The metal eased 0.6 percent on Tuesday, snapping a two-day rally.
* Bullion failed to get a lift from a softer dollar, weak U.S. housing data and a modest rebound in oil prices.
* The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies on Tuesday as more traders booked profits on bullish greenback bets following the Federal Reserve's interest rate increase last week and a steep drop in existing home sales in November.
* A softer dollar would have typically sent greenback-denominated gold higher.
* U.S. home resales posted their sharpest drop in five years in November. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N14B0PB Other data on Tuesday showed the U.S. economy grew at a fairly healthy clip in the third quarter as strong consumer and business spending offset efforts by businesses to reduce an inventory glut. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N14B0RC
* Elsewhere, oil prices stabilized after earlier plumbing multi-year lows. Gold is positively co-related to oil as the metal is seen as a hedge against old-led inflation.
* Trading is expected to be quiet as liquidity thins ahead of the Christmas holiday. Japanese markets were closed on Wednesday.
* Gold could see some sharp moves as dealers square their books in year-end trading. Short positions on COMEX gold are at a record high, according to recent U.S. government data, a factor that could trigger some short covering.
* But investor sentiment towards gold remains largely bearish as its fate depends on the outlook of the dollar and the pace of the Fed's future rate hikes.
* Several brokerages have predicted a drop below $1,000 an ounce next year. Assets of the top gold exchange-traded fund are near a seven-year low.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* Asia shares edged higher on Wednesday following a modest bounce on Wall Street, while the dollar drifted lower and the slump in oil prices paused if only for a day.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0745 France Consumer spending Nov
0745 France Detailed GDP Q3
0930 Britain GDP Final Q3
1330 U.S. Personal income Nov
1330 U.S. Durable goods orders Nov
1500 U.S. New home sales Nov
PRICES AT 0040 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1073.46
1.5
0.14 Spot silver
14.29
0.035
0.25 Spot platinum
868.74
-1.62
-0.19 Spot palladium
555.3
2.65
0.48 Comex gold
1073.3
-0.8
-0.07 Comex silver
14.285 -0.029
-0.2
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months