Gold steady amid firm dollar, geopolitical tensions support

(Reuters) - Gold prices held steady on Wednesday as the dollar remained firm, with safe-haven demand for the metal buoyed after U.S. President Donald Trump's latest comments on tensions over North Korea.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold > was nearly unchanged at $1,330.85 an ounce by 0059 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery were flat at $1,335.00 an ounce.

* The dollar index <.DXY>, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was steady at 91.890. [USD/]

* Asian shares inched to a 10-year peak on Wednesday, following Wall Street higher, while the dollar's rise against the yen helped boost Japanese shares. [MKTS/GLOB]

 

* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that U.N. sanctions on North Korea agreed this week were a small step and nothing compared to what would have to happen to deal with the country's nuclear programme.

* U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that if China doesn't follow the United Nations sanctions approved on North Korea, he will seek new financial sanctions on Beijing to cut off access to the U.S. financial system.

* The U.S. poverty rate fell for the second straight year in 2016, while median income rose to an all-time high of $59,000 as the economy made up ground lost during the 2007-2009 recession, federal government data released on Tuesday showed.

* Unconventional central bank tools have largely worked and should remain part of the policy arsenal despite some deficiencies, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Tuesday.

* British inflation hit its joint highest level in more than five years in August, complicating the Bank of England's job this week of explaining why it is not raising interest rates.

* Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he wants the country's central bank to focus on monetary policies geared at achieving its 2 percent inflation target, regardless of who becomes the next Bank of Japan governor, the Nikkei newspaper said on Wednesday.

* SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.35 percent to 838.64 tonnes on Tuesday from 835.68 tonnes on Monday. [GOL/ETF]

(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)