* Trading slows ahead of year-end holidays * Aggressive monetary policy could help boost gold * Coming Up: Euro zone finance ministers' meet (Adds details, comments; updates prices) By Rujun Shen SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady above $1,700 per ounce on Tuesday, as investors watch a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later in the day in hopes that European policymakers will take decisive steps to tackle the region's debt crisis. Finance ministers of the euro zone are expected to approve details of leveraging the European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund to help prevent contagion in bond markets, and release a vital aid lifeline for Greece. Euro zone leaders face increasing pressure from other countries and rating agencies to solve the two-year-old debt crisis, which threatens to split up the single-currency bloc and sink the global economy, causing distress in financial markets. "We remain bullish on gold, because we think the solutions are going to need more aggressive monetary policy, which will be positive for gold," said Jeremy Friesen, a commodities strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. But gold is unlikely to stage new highs as trading activity slows ahead of the year-end, with traders booking profits and moving to the sidelines of the market before the holidays. "I wouldn't be surprised that we don't see much strength towards the end of the year, but into 2012 we should see aggressive monetary policy being reflected in prices of gold," Friesen added. Spot gold was little changed at $1,709.19 an ounce by 0353 GMT, after staging its biggest one-day rally in three weeks on Monday with a climb of nearly 2 percent. U.S. gold traded nearly flat at $1,710. Market participants continue to watch the euro zone's bond market, currencies, and moves by central banks in Europe, the United States and elsewhere for clues to monetary policy shifts. In the absence of major breaking news, gold is likely to move around $1,700 until the end of the year, traders and analysts said. Managed money, including hedge funds and other speculators, trimmed its net long position in gold futures and options during the week ended Nov. 22, as the price of bullion lost almost 5 percent to stand below $1,700 an ounce. But holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, remained unchanged at 1,297.324 tonnes, their highest since early August. Price-sensitive physical buyers again moved to the sidelines after prices rebounded above $1,700, dealers said. Spot palladium led the precious metals complex with a rise of 1.1 percent, to $579.22, rebounding from a 7-1/2-week low of $561.25 hit on Nov. 25. Precious metals prices 0322 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1709.05 -1.54 -0.09 20.40 Spot Silver 31.96 -0.11 -0.34 3.56 Spot Platinum 1540.00 0.76 +0.05 -12.87 Spot Palladium 579.22 6.49 +1.13 -27.55 TOCOM Gold 4295.00 35.00 +0.82 15.18 34857 TOCOM Platinum 3890.00 -4.00 -0.10 -17.16 7063 TOCOM Silver 79.30 0.80 +1.02 -2.10 346 TOCOM Palladium 1463.00 8.00 +0.55 -30.23 225 COMEX GOLD DEC1 1710.00 -0.80 -0.05 20.30 2564 COMEX SILVER DEC1 31.95 -0.22 -0.67 3.25 1078 Euro/Dollar 1.3330 Dollar/Yen 78.14 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

Source