BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold was steady on Thursday after overnight losses, with markets assessing whether the latest set of U.S. economic data boosted the prospects of an early interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $1,212.70 per ounce by 0048 GMT. It fell 0.2 percent on Wednesday to close at $1,212.40.
* U.S. gold was nearly flat at $1,215.20
* U.S. manufacturing grew for a third straight month in May, but factories appeared to be taking in fewer deliveries from their suppliers, which could hamper production in the months ahead.
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* Other data on Wednesday showed automobile sales rising last month from April, extending the recent flow of relatively strong data that suggested economic growth was regaining speed in the second quarter.
* Inflation pressures grew slightly across most of the United States from April to mid-May, the Fed said on Wednesday in a report that also pointed to rising labour costs for American companies.
* Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to testify to the Senate Banking Committee on the U.S. central bank's semi-annual monetary policy report on June 21, the panel said.
* The dollar dipped to 109.36 yen from a high of 110.830 overnight as a big drop in Tokyo stocks fuelled bids for the safe-haven currency.
* Asian shares were steady on Thursday as Wall Street eked out modest gains, while the resurgent yen pressured equity markets in Japan.
* Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.24 percent to 870.74 tonnes on Wednesday, the highest since November 2013.
* As the Fed prepares the ground for another interest rate hike, most other central banks are moving in the opposite direction. And the divergence is widening.
* Ghana expects to produce 2.7 million ounces of gold in 2016, down only marginally from last year as new production offsets a decline in output due to lower global prices and ageing mines, the Chamber of Mines said.
(Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)