Gold flat ahead of US election and Fed meeting

Gold was little changed on Tuesday as investors refrained from taking big bets ahead of the U.S. presidential election, with the Federal Reserve policy meeting due later this week also in focus.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was flat at $2,734.71 per ounce, as of 0013 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of $2,790.15 on Thursday.


* U.S. gold futures edged lower by 0.1% to $2,743.40.

* Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump are nearly tied in opinion polls, leaving the outcome of the U.S. presidential race uncertain and potentially unconfirmed for days after voting ends.

* Meanwhile, both Trump and Harris predicted victory as they campaigned across Pennsylvania on Monday in the final, frantic day of an exceptionally close U.S. presidential election.

* Another risk event in focus this week is the Fed's decision on interest rates, coupled with comments from Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials.

* Traders have fully priced in a Fed rate cut for this week, with nearly a 100% chance of a 25-basis-point reduction, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

* Bullion is considered a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties and tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment.

* On the geopolitical front, Israel has terminated a longstanding cooperation agreement with the UN Palestinian relief agency that covered its protection, movement, and diplomatic immunity in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.

* Elsewhere, Brazilian authorities are preparing to remove illegal gold miners from an Indigenous reservation in the Amazon, which has been plagued by informal airstrips and mercury contamination.

* Spot silver fell 0.3% to $32.36 per ounce, platinum shed 0.3% to $980.81 and palladium was down 0.3% to $1,071.14

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0145 China Caixin Services PMI Oct 0930 UK S&P Global PMI: Composite - Output Oct 0930 UK Reserve Assets Total Oct 1330 US International Trade $ Sept 1445 US S&P Global Comp Final PMI Oct 1445 US S&P Global Svcs PMI Final Oct 1500 US ISM N-Mfg PMI Oct.