REUTERS - Gold held steady on Tuesday after a sharp fall in the previous session on a market-friendly French presidential vote, although tensions over North Korea offered support for safe-haven bullion.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was unchanged at $1,275 per ounce by 0115 GMT. Bullion prices fell about 0.7 percent in the previous session after touching $1,265.90, the lowest since April 11.
* U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,276.60 an ounce.
* Centrist Emmanuel Macron took a big step towards the French presidency on Sunday by winning the first round of voting and qualifying for a May 7 runoff alongside far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
* The news represented a defeat for anti-European Union forces on the right and left of French politics, sent European shares and the euro vaulting higher and sparked a sell-off in safe-haven bullion.
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* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.N. Security Council must be prepared to impose new sanctions on North Korea as concerns mount that it may test a sixth nuclear bomb as early as Tuesday.
* The launch of the London Metal Exchange's new precious metals contracts will be delayed until July 10, more than a month later than previously announced, it said on Monday.
* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.17 percent to 860.17 tonnes on Monday.
* Russia and Kazakhstan raised gold holdings in March, the International Monetary Fund said.
* UBS cuts three-month target for gold prices to $1,200 per ounce from previous estimate at $1,300.
* Barrick Gold reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings on Monday and also slashed its forecast for output and hiked costs at its gold mine in Argentina, where cyanide solution spilled recently for the third time in 18 months.
* Newmont Mining Corp reported higher-than-expected adjusted earnings on Monday helped by higher production and gold prices as the gold miner also raised its longer-term forecast for output and lowered costs due to expansions at a Ghanaian mine.
* Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, reported a 19 percent rise in first-quarter sales to $600 million on Monday due to higher production.
* Randgold Resources Ltd confirmed multiple opportunities for extending life of Tongon gold mine beyond current four-year horizon.
(Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)