Aug 2 (Reuters) - Indian gold futures steadied on Thursday, following global leads, but traders sought price direction ahead of the monetary policy statement from the European Central Bank. * The most-active gold for August delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange was 0.26 percent higher at 29,684 rupees per 10 grams at 1040 GMT. * ECB chief Mario Draghi boosted hopes for fresh action to help the euro last week when he said he would do whatever was necessary to protect the single currency. * "Any such central bank event is vital to the market and people generally refuse to take positions before this," said a dealer with a private bank in Mumbai. * Physical demand has been subdued so far this year and is expected to remain dull. * The festival season starts in August in India, the world's biggest gold buyer in 2011, and continues till November. * Traders are also watching the monsoon forecast for the second half of the June-September season, which is vital to gold demand in rural areas. * Monsoon rains, which have been below normal so far, are vital to the farm economy in rural areas, which account for 60 percent of gold demand. * Silver for September delivery on the MCX was 0.09 percent higher at 53,221 rupees per kg. * Following were the prices in rupees at 4:16 p.m., quoted by HDFC Bank in the spot market : Thursday Wednesday ============================================= Gold .999/10 grams 30,100 30,136 Silver .999/kg 54,100 54,880 At 4:21 pm, following were the prices in rupees on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd <0#MAU:>: Contract Current price Net change ============================================= Oct gold 30,038 +24 Sept silver 53,189 +17 (Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)

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