PRECIOUS-Gold firms ahead of tariff deadline and central bank decisions

(Updates prices)
* U.S. Federal Reserve statement due at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT)
* ECB holds first policy meeting with Lagarde as president
* South African mine closures continue to support palladium

By Diptendu Lahiri
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Gold inched higher on Wednesday as
investors sought safety from the threat of new U.S. tariffs on
Chinese goods due to come into effect on Dec. 15 while also
awaiting policy decisions from major central banks.
Autocatalyst metal palladium held steady just shy of a
record high.
Spot gold XAU= had gained 0.1% to $1,465.88 per ounce by
1234 GMT. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 rose 0.2% to $1,470.30.
"The trade war continues to be a factor supporting gold,
there's no easy solution to it and that uncertainty will keep
gold prices up," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.
U.S. President Donald Trump has days to decide whether to
impose tariffs scheduled to take effect on Sunday on nearly $160
billion worth of Chinese goods.
The White House's top economic and trade advisers are
expected to meet Trump in the coming days to discuss the issue,
one person briefed on the situation told Reuters. Washington is laying the groundwork for a delay but a final
decision has not been made, the person said.
"Should both parties (the United States and China) fail to
reach positive consensus, gold prices will receive strength over
lacklustre risk appetites for the near term," Phillip Futures
analyst Benjamin Lu said in a note.
Gold is considered a safe investment during political and
economic uncertainty.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will issue a statement after its
December policy meeting later on Wednesday. Although the central
bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, investors
are eager to hear its outlook for the economy, which has been
affected by the tariff war. "As far as the central banks are concerned, it is not only
the Fed that investors are looking at, but all the major central
banks," Commerzbank's Weinberg said.
The European Central Bank will hold its first monetary
policy meeting and news conference with Christine Lagarde as
president on Thursday.
On the technical front, signals were mixed for the gold
price as it kept bouncing towards a resistance at $1,466 per
ounce, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. TECH/C
Palladium XPD= was flat at $1,896.50 an ounce, having
surged past $1,900 for the first time on Tuesday.
Speculative buying and mine closures in major producer South
Africa have supported palladium prices, which are expected to
rise further in the longer term, a trader from Japanese retailer
Tokuriki Honten Co. said.
Silver XAG= edged down 0.1% to $16.64 while platinum
XPT= was little changed at to $921.91.