SINGAPORE, Jan 30 Gold was little changed on Tuesday ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meet

SINGAPORE, Jan 30 (Reuters) Gold was little changed on Tuesday ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates which may determine the direction of the precious metal.

Spot gold was at $642.00/643.00 an ounce by 0403GMT, hardly changed from $642.60/643.60 late in New York on Monday, when it had fallen more than $2 in the U.S. market on a firmer dollar and weaker oil .

''We are stuck in a range and I guess the market finds a good excuse for not doing anything ahead of the Fed,'' said adealer in Hong Kong.

''There's nothing going on the physical side either, and we probably trade in range of $642 to $647 today,'' he said.

Benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, currently December 2007, fell 14 yen per gram to 2,534 yen ($20.79) to track declines in New York's COMEX market.

Investors await the release of key U.S. economic data due this week, including fourth-quarter GDP figures and the Fed's rate decision on Wednesday, the Personal Consumption Expenditure inflation index on Thursday and January employment data on Friday.

The dollar edged down to 121.65 yen from near 121.75 yen in late New York on profit taking before the Fed meeting and a slew of U.S. economic data.

The dollar rallied to 122.20 yen on Monday -- its strongest since December 2002. The euro was little changed at $1.2958 .

The dollar has rebounded against other major currencies as signs of strength in the U.S. economy have convinced investors the Fed is less likely to cut rates this year from 5.25 percent.

A firmer dollar reduces gold's appeal as an alternative investment and has helped trigger a fall from a 5-1/2-month high of $654 hit last week.

''The market obviously perceives that they are going to come out and say they are still highly on inflation watch ... If that's the case, then obviously that's dollar positive in many respects,'' said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.

''If that's the case, that would probably help to put a cap on gold prices for the time being,'' said Heathcote, adding that there's a possibility that the metal would head back to $630s.

The Fed ends its first policy meeting of the year on Wednesday and is expected to repeat that it is still worried about inflation pressures.

In other precious, silver edged up to $13.15/13.20 an ounce from $13.14/13.21 late in New York.

Platinum was unchanged from late New York levels at $1,163/1,168 an ounce. Palladium dropped to $337/342 an ounce from $340/345 an ounce.

REUTERS PV ND1122