PRECIOUS-Gold flat after uncertain Fed outlook

* BoJ leaves interest rates unchanged
* Gold targets $1,446/oz - technicals

(Updates prices)
By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri
Sept 19 (Reuters) - Gold prices were little changed on
Thursday after a sharp fall in the previous session as a lack of
clarity in the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy outlook
kept investors cautious.
The Fed lowered interest rates for a second time this year
in a 7-3 vote on Wednesday but signalled further cuts are
unlikely as the labour market remains strong. The cut was widely expected, but the split vote has raised
some concern about predicting the future path of monetary
policy.
"Traders are disappointed by the divergence of future rate
cut path and the market is unwinding expectations of a few more
cuts in the months to come," said Margaret Yang Yan, a market
analyst at CMC Markets.
Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding
non-yielding gold, and weigh on the dollar.
Spot gold XAU= inched 0.1% higher to $1,495.36 per ounce
as of 0636 GMT, after falling as much as 1% on Wednesday.
However, U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were down 0.8% at $1,503.
Central banks globally are facing increasing pressure to
dole out monetary support for flagging economies as the
U.S.-China trade dispute hits global economic growth.
"Gold looks vulnerable. If the Fed is right to proceed with
caution – meaning the global environment is not as dire as
stimulus-hungry markets seem to envision – that implies less
scope for overall easing," said Ilya Spivak, a senior currency
strategist at DailyFx.
A close below $1,480 would set the stage for a retest of the
$1,400 level initially and may then pave the way for a deeper
pullback, he said.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady but
said it would re-examine economic and price developments more
thoroughly at its next policy meeting, amid growing risks to the
country's fragile economic recovery. Spot gold is poised to break a support at $1,488 per ounce
and fall to the next support at $1,446, according to Reuters
technical analyst Wang Tao. Among other precious metals, silver XAG= dipped slightly
to $17.72, and platinum XPT= and palladium XPD= were both
barely changed at $930.34 and $1,590.79 respectively.