March 12 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Wednesday on a possible ceasefire deal in Ukraine, while investors braced for a key U.S. inflation data later in the day to gauge the Federal Reserve's interest rate path amid trade tensions and economic slowdown fears.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold XAU= was down 0.1% at $2,912.71 an ounce as of 0046 GMT, while U.S. gold futures GCcv1 eased 0.1% to $2,919.00.

* The United States agreed on Tuesday to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after talks where Kyiv said it would accept a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its conflict with Russia, the countries said in a joint statement.

* Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump defended his tariff policies on Tuesday as he met the CEOs of America's biggest companies, including many whose market value has dipped in recent days as recession and inflation fears soured consumer and investor sentiment.

* Trump's tariffs are widely expected to stoke inflation and economic uncertainty, and have prompted gold to reach a record high of $2,956.15 on February 24.

* Gold is seen as a hedge against political risks and inflation.

* Investors now await U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data due later in the day to analyse the interest rate stance the Fed may adopt going forward this year.

* If rising price pressures force the Fed to keep interest rates higher, gold may lose its allure as it is a non-yielding asset.

* Spot silver XAG= lost 0.5% to $32.77 an ounce, platinum XPT= rose 0.4% to $978.54, and palladium XPD= slipped 0.5% to $941.43.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1230 US Core CPI MM, SA, Core CPI YY, NSA Feb

1230 US CPI MM, SA, CPI YY, NSA Feb

1230 US CPI Wage Earner Feb

(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

((Anjana.Anil@thomsonreuters.com;))