Tokyo - Gold steadied on Thursday after a weaker dollar helped push the precious metal above $1 000 an ounce the previous day for the first time since September 24.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was at $1,007.05 an ounce at 0013 GMT, almost flat from the notional close in New York of $1,006.70.
* Bullion rose 8.7 percent in the three months to September, its strongest quarterly performance since it rose 9.9 percent in the January-March period in 2008.
* It hit an 18-month high of $1,023.85 an ounce on September 17, just a few dollars shy of the March 2008 record high of $1,030.80.
* It fell below $985 earlier this week. But gold got a boost from a sliding dollar on Wednesday as investors put cash to work after US data suggested the world's biggest economy was recovering from recession.
* US gold futures for December delivery were at $1,008.60. On Wednesday the contract rose $14.90, or 1.5 percent, to $1,009.30 an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings rose 1.22 tons to 1,095.327 tons on Wednesday.
* India's gold imports in September provisionally fell 30 percent, the smallest year-on-year decline in five months as steady prices and the festival season attracted more buyers in the world's biggest consumer. - Reuters
