FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold held steady at $2,383.29 an ounce at 0114 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $2,399.60 an ounce.
* Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hovered near five-month highs hit in the previous session as markets reassessed how quickly the Federal Reserve could move to cut interest rates this year .
* Senior U.S. central bank officials, including Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, have backed away from providing guidance on when interest rates might be cut, saying instead that monetary policy needs to be restrictive for a longer time.
* Higher interest rates reduce the attractiveness of holding gold without yield. * Israeli tanks pushed back parts of the northern Gaza Strip, while military planes carried out airstrikes on Rafah, the last refuge of Palestinians in the south of the territory, killing and injuring several people. * Canadian mining company Barrick Gold reported lower-than-expected preliminary gold production for the first quarter, affected by planned maintenance at its mines.
*The Shanghai Futures Exchange will increase the trading limits and margin ratios of certain metal futures contracts, including copper and gold.
* The global economy is poised for another year of slow but steady growth, the International Monetary Fund said, with U.S. strength pushing global output to face headwinds from persistently high inflation, to weak demand in China and Europe and the fallout from two regional wars.
* Spot silver rose 0.3% to $28.17 an ounce, platinum fell 0.4% to $952.93 and palladium rose 0.3% to 1,017, $25.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0600 UK Core CPI AA March 0600 UK CPI AA March 0900 EU HICP Final MM, AA March 1800 US Federal Reserve publishes Beige Book on Economic Situation Meetings IMF and World Bank Spring 2024
(Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bangalore; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
