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MANILA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - 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
* U.S. gold for April delivery
* 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.
* Fresh data out of China on Monday should provide more clues on the state of the world's No. 2 economy, with the government releasing both manufacturing and non-manufacturing data.
* Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said it was "significant" that the Fed decided to no longer describe the risks to the U.S. economy as being "balanced," a term that meant officials were comfortable with their view of the outlook.
* Hedge funds and money managers boosted their bullish bet in COMEX gold to a 12-week high in the week to Jan. 26, as they also hiked a silver net long stance, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
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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.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0100 China Official manufacturing PMI Jan
0100 China Official non-manufacturing PMI Jan
0145 China Caixin manufacturing PMI final Jan
0855 Germany Markit/BME manufacturing PMI Jan
0900 Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI Jan
1330 U.S. Personal income Dec
1500 U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI Jan
1500 U.S. Construction spending Dec
(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Michael Perry) ((manolo.serapio@thomsonreuters.com; +632 841 8972; Reuters Messaging: manolo.serapio.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net Twitter: @MannySerapio))
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Keywords: GLOBAL PRECIOUS/