By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on Thursday, as investors weighed the possibility of further easing moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve after better-than-expected manufacturing and labour market data, while gold purchases by central banks supported the sentiment.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $1,824.39 an ounce by 0020 GMT, after posting a 12 percent monthly gain in August. Prices have climbed nearly 22 percent in the past two months, and 29 percent so far this year.
* U.S. gold
* Factory activity in the U.S. Midwest slowed just a bit in August and private employers continued to hire despite extreme financial market turmoil, easing fears the economy would fall back into recession.
* Investors are closely watching a key Fed policy meeting starting Sept. 20, during which officials will discuss options to help stimulate the economic growth.
* Euro zone annual inflation was unchanged in August while the number of people without jobs grew, data showed on Wednesday, adding to expectations that the next ECB interest rate move could be a cut rather than a hike.
* Supporting the sentiment in the bullion market, central banks continued to buy gold despite record high prices. Russia added 4.42 tonnes to its gold reserves in July, while Colombia bought 2.3 tonnes of gold in its first purchase since March 1998.
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks closed out the worst month in more than a year on an up note on Wednesday, with sharp gains in the last several days still not enough to repair the damage from a U.S. credit downgrade and fears of a slide back into recession.
* The dollar held steady against a basket of currencies , after it suffered the biggest daily loss against the Swiss franc since Aug. 9 as the Swiss National Bank shied away from intervention.
DATA/EVENTS 0753 Germany Markit/BME manufacturing PMI Aug 0758 Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI Aug 1230 US Revised Q2 Productivity 1230 US Jobless claims Weekly 1400 US Construction spending July 1400 US ISM manufacturing index Aug
US ICSC chain store sales Aug
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0020 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1824.39 1.09 +0.06 28.53 Spot Silver 41.59 0.12 +0.29 34.77 Spot Platinum 1841.74 2.39 +0.13 4.20 Spot Palladium 781.72 3.22 +0.41 -2.22 TOCOM Gold 4514.00 -7.00 -0.15 21.05 44245 TOCOM Platinum 4599.00 -10.00 -0.22 -2.07 2295 TOCOM Silver 102.00 0.20 +0.20 25.93 232 TOCOM Palladium 1940.00 16.00 +0.83 -7.49 215 COMEX GOLD DEC1 1827.40 -4.30 -0.23 28.56 1780 COMEX SILVER SEP1 41.60 -0.10 -0.25 34.44 0 Euro/Dollar 1.4357 Dollar/Yen 76.85 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)