* Silver at cheapest versus gold in three years (Updates throughout, changes dateline, previous SINGAPORE)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Thursday as traders remained wary of the outlook for U.S. monetary policy even after the Federal Reserve gave no sign that it is set to taper its stimulus programme, and as the dollar recovered from six-week lows.
At the close of a two-day meeting, the central bank said it would maintain its $85 billion monthly bond-buying measures, part of its quantitative easing programme and a major driver of higher gold prices, in a bid to strengthen the U.S. economy.
That immediately lifted gold and knocked the dollar to a six-week low against a currency basket. However, the U.S. unit recovered and gold retreated as traders digested the statement.
Spot gold was flat at $1,323.16 an ounce at 0935 GMT, having touched a high of $1,333.46 in the immediate wake of the Fed statement on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were up $10.40 an ounce at $1,323.40.
"The expectations of tapering and the forthcoming end of QE are a little premature, but unless the U.S. economy weakens substantially, you can still expect QE to come to an end at some point," Mitsui Precious Metals analyst David Jollie said.
That being the case, it may not make sense to get back into gold at this point, he said.
"The next move will most likely come from outside the gold market, from dollar weakness or strength," Jollie added. "We still certainly have problems in Europe, and at some point discussions over the U.S. debt ceiling. So there are issues out there that can move the price, outside of QE."
The euro fell against the dollar on Thursday ahead of a European Central Bank meeting that is expected to reaffirm loose monetary policy.
The ECB is seen likely to hold off on further stimulus but to stand by last month's forward guidance that its main interest rate will stay at 0.5 percent or lower for an "extended period".
ETF HOLDINGS STEADY
Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Shares, were unchanged for a fifth day on Wednesday, the fund said.
"On balance, no more gold has been withdrawn from the ETFs in the past six days of trading," Commerzbank said in a note. "If the ETF outflows were to come to an end, one key factor weighing on the gold price would be eliminated."
Physical demand for bullion remained quiet. Shanghai gold futures turned negative after gaining at the open, indicating soft buying in China, the world's second-biggest bullion consumer.
In top buyer India, gold imports have come to a halt due to uncertainty in import policy, keeping premiums high at around $45 an ounce over London prices.
Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.5 percent at $19.73 an ounce, while spot platinum was down 0.1 percent at $1,432.49 an ounce. Spot palladium lost 0.25 percent at $724.22 an ounce.
The gold/silver ratio, which measures the number of silver ounces needed to buy an ounce of gold, held near the previous session's three-year high at 67.2, as silver underperformed. (Additional reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Dale Hudson)
