BENGALURU, July 26 (Reuters) - Gold inched up early Tuesday as the dollar slipped and equities eased ahead of central bank meetings in the United States and Japan this week.



FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,318.80 an ounce at 0051 GMT. Bullion fell 0.5 percent on Monday.

* U.S. gold was little changed at $1,319.10 an ounce.

* Caution gripped Asian markets on Tuesday, sending the safe-haven yen higher ahead of the central bank meetings.

* The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged down 0.1 percent , below the previous session's high of 97.569, its loftiest peak since March. /

* The U.S. central bank is widely expected to stand pat on policy at its two-day meeting beginning on Tuesday.

* The U.S. financial system faces greater potential instability due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union while low and negative interest rates also raise risks, a U.S. government monitor said on Monday.

* U.S. federal funds futures fell to four-week lows on Monday, signaling traders raised their bets the Federal Reserve would raise short-term interest rates by the end of 2016 if the economy shows further improvement.

* Optimism among British manufacturers fell in July to its lowest level since early 2009 after Britain's decision to leave the European Union, a survey showed on Monday, even as output rose in the last three months.

* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.46 percent to 958.69 tonnes on Monday.

* Russia and Kazakhstan continued to boost their gold reserves in June, data from the International Monetary Fund showed on Friday.

* Canadian gold miner Dundee Precious Metals Inc said a power outage in Namibia on Friday is expected to reduce its 2016 concentrate throughput by about 20,000 tonnes.

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MARKET REPORT

* Oil prices fell more than 2 percent on Monday, with U.S. crude hitting a three-month low, on rising concerns that a global glut of crude and refined products would pressure markets, delaying a long-anticipated rebalance in the market.



DATA AHEAD (GMT)

1300 U.S. S&P/Case Shiller home price index May

1345 U.S. Markit flash PMI July

1400 U.S. New home sales June

1400 U.S. Conference Board consumer confidence index July

Federal Open Market Committee starts two-day policy meeting

(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin) ((Sethuraman.NR@thomsonreuters.com;)(Within U.S. 1-651-848-5832, Outside U.S. +91 8067496031)(; Reuters Messaging: nallur.sethuraman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))