PRECIOUS-Gold prices flat as investors await Fed rate decision

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Gold prices were flat on Tuesday, as market participants held back from making large bets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold held its ground at $1,922.26 per ounce, as of 0032 GMT. U.S. gold futures were down 0.1% at $1,921.40.

* Traders mostly expect the U.S. central bank to scale back rate hikes to 25 basis points (bps) at its two-day policy meeting that ends on Wednesday.

* Low interest-rate environment decreases the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

* Investors are pricing in a 50-bps rate hike from the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB), which also have policy meetings this week.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.2% to 917.05 tonnes on Monday.

* China's fiscal revenue rose 0.6% in 2022 from a year earlier, slowing sharply from a 10.7% increase in 2021 due to huge tax rebates for businesses to support the COVID-ravaged economy, data from the finance ministry showed on Monday.

* Spot silver lost 0.2% to $23.56 per ounce, platinum was steady at $1,009.04, and palladium dipped 0.2% to $1,635.48.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0030 Australia Retail Sales MM Final Dec

0130 China NBS Manufacturing PMI Jan

0630 France GDP Preliminary Q4

0745 France CPI (EU Norm) Prelim YY Jan

0745 France Producer Prices YY Dec

0855 Germany Unemployment Chg SA Jan

0855 Germany Unemployment Rate SA Jan

0100 EU GDP Flash Prelim Q4

0900 Germany CPI Prelim YY Jan

0900 Germany HICP Prelim YY Jan

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Federal Reserve's FOMC starts its two-day meeting on interest rates (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)