Gold struggles

Manila
Gold steadied on Wednesday with appetite for the metal soured by a firmer dollar despite weaker Asian equities, and failure to breach a key resistance and a looming U.S. rate hike suggest more downside risk.
Asian stocks sagged after sharp overnight losses on Wall Street, fed by worries over weak Chinese manufacturing data. Chinese stocks fell again in a seesaw session despite pledges by a number of brokerages to increase their stock investment to support the market.
Spot gold was flat at $1,140.70 an ounce by 0624 GMT, after touching a one-week high of $1,147.16 on Tuesday.
Gold has failed to convincingly breach the $1,145 resistance even in the face of a 3 percent slide in U.S. stocks on Tuesday, said Howie Lee, analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. Non-interest bearing gold has been hit by a looming hike in U.S. interest rates, shifting funds to the dollar.