Gold holds steady as market awaits US election outcome
Market expects Fed to cut rates by 25 bps on Thursday
Perth Mint's gold and silver sales decline in October
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By Daksh Grover
Nov 6 (Reuters) -Gold held steady on Wednesday as investors keenly awaited the outcome of a tightly contested U.S. presidential race.
Spot gold XAU= held its ground at $2,745.42 per ounce, as of 0218 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of $2,790.15 last Thursday.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 edged 0.2% higher to $2,754.10.
Republican Donald Trump won 14 states in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election while Democrat Kamala Harris captured four states and Washington, D.C., Edison Research projected, but critical battleground states were unlikely to be called for hours or even days.
It's 95% about the U.S. election this week, with a 5% splash of the Federal Reserve to add a touch of spice, said Kyle Rodda, financial market analyst at Capital.com.
"Gold is a part of the Trump trade and in the long term ought to benefit from a Trump victory, mostly due to the impacts of huge deficit spending but also because of potentially more uncertain U.S. foreign policy," said Rodda.
Traders are also awaiting the Fed's two-day policy meeting, which concludes on Thursday, and Chair Jerome Powell's remarks for further direction.
Markets broadly expect the Fed to announce a quarter-point rate cut this week after the September reduction. FEDWATCH
"While markets expect a 25-bp cut this week, the Fed may avoid a dovish tone due to the inflationary impact of Trump's policies," said Matt Simpson, senior analyst at City Index.
Gold is considered a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties and tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment.
U.S. trade deficit surged to the highest in nearly 2-1/2-years in September, data released on Tuesday showed.
Elsewhere, Perth Mint reported a decline in October gold sales, while silver sales slipped to their lowest in four months.
Spot silver XAG= fell 0.53% to $32.49 per ounce, platinum XPD= shed 0.6% to $993.45 and palladium XPT= was down 2.17% to $1,052.25.
Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Subhranshu Sahu
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