* ETFs holdings lowest since September 2009
* U.S. Federal Reserve maintains bond-buying programme
* Coming Up: ECB policy-setting meeting at 1145 GMT
* U.S weekly jobless claims at 1230 GMT (Updates throughout, changes dateline from SINGAPORE)
By Clara Denina
LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Gold edged down on Thursday, as physical demand slowed even as China resumed trading after a three-day holiday, while prices shrugged off the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain or boost its bond-purchase programme and awaited more economic data.
Although the Fed's printing of money to buy assets is considered supportive for the metal because it tends to be inflationary, traders said that inflation readings were lower recently and are not likely to show changes in coming months.
"The logic was that the more QE was done by central banks the more inflationary pressure we would have but there's no sign of that and gold is suffering," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said.
Gold was down 0.1 percent to $1,454.86 an ounce by 0947 GMT, having shed more than 1 percent in the previous session -- its biggest daily drop since bullion's historic decline in mid-April. It hit a low of $1,439.74 on Wednesday, the weakest since April 25.
U.S. gold for June delivery stood up 0.6 percent to $1,454.40 an ounce.
In its statement following a two-day meeting, the Fed reiterated it would continue to buy $85 billion worth of bonds each month to support a moderately expanding economy that still has too high an unemployment rate.
But instead of rallying on the news, gold tracked other commodity and equity markets lower on renewed worries over the Chinese and U.S. economies after disappointing data from both countries.
Investors cautiously awaited a European Central Bank meeting that could see an interest rate cut to support growth, while weekly jobless claims in the United States will be also watched as well as U.S. non-farm payrolls report for April on Friday, which will signal the longer-term prospects for the Fed's monetary stimulus.
Bullion has now recovered around half of the massive losses incurred between April 12 and 16 on fears of a withdrawal of the Fed's monetary stimulus and after the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund asked Cyprus to sell reserves as part of a bailout deal.
But traders saw downside risks still persist.
"My view is that the relief rally of last week is over and that we will see lower prices again, not necessarily in the violent way we witnessed a couple of weeks ago, but rather a drift downwards," Marex Spectron head of precious metals David Govett said in a note.
PHYSICAL MARKET SLOWER
Physical market activity slowed after a recent surge in the purchase of gold bars, coins and nuggets across Asia sent premiums for gold bars to multi-year highs.
Gold's second-largest consumer China resumed trading after a three-day holiday, but demand seemed slower than a week ago, while the physical market in Hong Kong was also easier.
"The Chinese market opened again overnight, but little in the way of gold buying was seen, which is slightly disappointing given the fact that prices are thirty to forty dollars lower than when they went on holiday," Marex Spectron said.
Gold's historic sell-off last month has widened a disconnect between funds that sold on dissatisfaction over bullion's underperformance and individual investors who could not get enough physical gold coins and bars at bargain prices.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.31 percent to 1,075.23 tonnes on Wednesday, the lowest since September 2009.
In other precious metals, silver rose 0.4 percent to $23.62 an ounce. Platinum was up 0.4 percent to $1,476.99 an ounce. Palladium was down 0.3 percent to $683.47, having hit a two-week high of $700.72 on Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Lewa Pardomuan in Singapore; editing by Keiron Henderson)
