Gold holds ground

SINGAPORE, Jan 28 (Reuters): Gold hovered in a tight range near $1,290 an ounce on Wednesday as the focus turned to whether a weaker global economy might push back the timing of an interest rate rise expected this year from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to release a statement at the end of a two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday and a dovish bias could support gold, a non-interest-bearing asset.

"Our view is that the central bank will likely pay greater attention to the slowing global macro picture and reinforce its 'go-slow' approach on interest rates," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note to clients.

Spot gold was off 0.3 per cent at $1,288.90 an ounce by 0717 GMT, after trading between $1,286.95 and $1,293.80. Bullion hit a five-month high of $1,306.20 last week.