(Reuters) - Gold broke a four-day rally on Thursday after the Federal Reserve acknowledged U.S. growth was slowing but gave no hint that it needed to provide additional economic stimulus, which bolstered the dollar. Following a two-day meeting on Wednesday, the Fed cut its forecasts for U.S. growth but did not suggest it would conduct a third round of quantitative easing, while at the same time signalling it would shift its focus to headline rather than core inflation. Against this backdrop, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank's commitment to keeping interest rates low for an extended period meant it was "at least two or three meetings away from a rate hike," but the timing of any shifts in policy would depend on levels of growth and unemployment. The gold price is still set for a 0.4 percent rise this week, bringing gains for the month so far to 0.7 percent, but the price remains nearly 2 percent south of early May's record highs as the near-3.5 percent rise in the dollar since then has hampered any rallies. Spot gold priced in dollars was last down 0.4 percent on the day at $1,543.29 an ounce by 0834 GMT, having failed to convincingly pierce a key level of resistance at $1,550.00 the previous day. "Bernanke is in no hurry to raise rates and, at the same time, rising inflation is beginning to be a bit of a concern, so on that basis, QE3 is out of the question," said Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen. "In that sense, gold is finding it a bit difficult to perform and over the last couple of days, when we almost reached boiling point earlier in the week with the Greek crisis, that didn't do enough to bring us above $1,550. So the fact that we made it there and very quickly failed could indicate that we are indeed in this summer period, which generally is not a favourable time of year for the sector as a whole." Reflecting how much of the action in the gold market has been a function of currency fluctuations was the rise in sterling-priced gold to record highs, as well as the gain in Australian dollar-priced gold to near-one year highs and euro-denominated gold hovering within 0.5 percent of life-time peaks. GREEK CRISIS BOILS The euro fell 0.4 percent against the dollar as European leaders met for a two-day summit where they will try to convince the Greek people and international markets that they have a workable plan to prevent Athens defaulting on its debt, even though Greece is not formally on the agenda. Using a mixture of arm-twisting and moral support, the leaders will tell Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that they will release the latest 12 billion euros of an emergency aid package, helping Athens to avoid a potential mid-July default, as long as it commits itself to economic reform. Although gold has struggled to break above $1,550 an ounce, analysts said they believed the Greek debt crisis would remain an key driver of demand for the metal. "We believe financial market uncertainty appears high enough for the ongoing Greek saga to translate into higher gold prices," said HSBC analyst Jim Steel in a note. Given the Fed's reiteration of its focus on the unemployment rate, investors will scrutinise the release of weekly U.S. initial jobless claims figures later on Thursday to determine the economy's ability to generate jobs. Meanwhile, gold in sterling terms hovered near a record 969.66 pounds an ounce, as the pound flagged following the Bank of England's June meeting minutes on Wednesday which suggested policymakers had not ruled out more quantitative easing. Inflows of gold into the world's largest exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust have steadied this week, although so far this year, the fund's holdings are down by more than 5 percent, highlighting the move by investors away from physical gold and into other assets. Silver was last down 0.5 percent at $36.15 an ounce, but was still set for a near-1 percent gain this week. Platinum and palladium both eased. Spot platinum was last down 1.2 percent at $1,724.74 an ounce, while palladium was down 1.4 percent at $754.97. Swiss data showed a slowdown in both imports and exports of palladium from one of Europe's leading clearing hubs for platinum group metals. (Additional reporting by Chikago Mogi in Tokyo; editing by Jason Neely)

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