DAILY COMMODITY MARKET STRATEGY- 1 Feb 2016

PRECIOUS-Gold steadies after best month in a year

Gold steadied at the start of the month on Monday, supported by slower U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth, after ending January with its biggest monthly gain in a year.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,117.31 an ounce by 0043 GMT. Bullion ended last month with a gain of 5.4 percent, its largest gain since January 2015.

* U.S. gold for April delivery was up 0.1 percent at $1,117.80 an ounce.

* U.S. economic growth braked sharply in the last quarter of 2015, expanding at an annual 0.7 percent rate, as businesses stepped up efforts to reduce an inventory glut and a strong dollar and tepid global demand weighed on exports.

* The data underpinned hopes that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of future U.S. rate increases, aiding gold.

* Gold touched a 12-week high of $1,127.80 on Wednesday, after the Fed said it was closely watching the global economy and financial markets and their impact on the U.S. economy.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian shares started a new month on somewhat firmer footing, helped by accommodative monetary policies in Japan and Europe, but traders were cautious ahead of China factory and service sector activity surveys.

* The yen nursed broad losses while the euro was also on the defensive after a surprise cut in Japanese interest rates sent bond yields sliding across the globe and particularly in Europe.

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