Gold prices held steady above the key $1,900 per ounce level during early Asian hours on Tuesday, buoyed by hopes of slower interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was unchanged at $1,917.24 per ounce, as of 0034 GMT. On Monday, prices hit $1,929, the highest since late-April 2022.

* U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,920.80.

* Investors are mostly expecting a 25 basis points (bps) rate hike increase at the Fed's next policy meeting. The U.S. central bank raised rates by 75 bps four times last year, before slowing to a 50 bps increase in December.

* Lower rates tend to be beneficial for bullion as they decrease the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

* Meanwhile, China's economy is expected to have slowed sharply in the fourth quarter due to stringent COVID curbs, dragging down 2022 growth to one of its worst in nearly half a century.

* Latest economic data shows the European Union may avoid a recession that was expected earlier and have a more shallow contraction instead, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Monday.

* Spot silver inched 0.5% lower to $24.27, platinum fell 0.1% to $1,061.77 while palladium rose 0.5% to $1,759.67.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0200 China Urban Investment (YTD) YY Dec

0200 China Retail Sales YY Dec

0200 China GDP YY Dec

0200 China Unemp Rate Urban Area Dec

0430 Japan Tertiary Ind Act NSA Nov

0700 Germany HICP Final YY Dec

0700 UK Claimant Count Unem Chng Dec

0700 UK ILO Unemployment Rate Nov

0700 UK HMRC Payrolls Change Dec

1000 Germany ZEW Economic Sentiment Jan

1000 Germany ZEW Current Conditions Jan (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)