jan 24 reuters  gold was little changed on monday as investors awaited the us federal reserves meeting for confirmation on its interest rate hike path while concerns over inflation and russiaukraine tensions keeping bullions safehaven allure intact  spot gold was flat at 183336 per ounce by 0034 gmt us gold futures were up 02 to 183470  the fed will tighten monetary policy at a much faster pace than thought a month ago to tame persistently high inflation now viewed by economists polled by reuters as the biggest threat to the us economy over the coming year read more  the us central banks federal open market committee is scheduled to meet on jan 2526  gold is generally seen as an inflationary hedge but it is highly sensitive to rising us interest rates which increases the opportunity cost of holding noninterest bearing bullion  benchmark us 10year treasury yields dropped on friday reducing the opportunity cost of holding noninterest bearing bullion  russia will face severe economic sanctions if it installs a puppet regime in ukraine a senior british minister said on sunday after the uk accused the kremlin of seeking to install a prorussian leader there read more  gold was sold at a discount in india last week as a rise in domestic prices dulled demand and jewellers looked ahead to the countrys annual budget while the upcoming lunar new year spurred demand in other key asian centres  spot silver was flat at 2423 an ounce palladium fell 03 to 210156 and platinum was up 02 to 103143 reporting by asha sistla in bengaluru editing by rashmi aich