FUNDAMENTALS US gold futures slid nearly 1 percent under pressure from dwindling expectations for the Federal Reserve to signal the need for more measures to keep US rates low. Longer-term gold exchange-traded fund investors took their bullion holdings to a fresh record, Reuters data showed. Copper futures eased due to concern about over-supply and demand in commodity-consuming giant China. ECONOMY China posted a $31.5 billion trade deficit in February, flipping a $27.3 billion January surplus on a 39.6 percent expansion in imports and an 18.4 percent export rise. MARKETS Improving US economic data kept the dollar flat, while shares and commodities gave up gains on fretting about Asia slowing and Europe's debts and scant growth. Oil prices snapped four days of gains on worries over Middle East supplies and the health of the global economy and fuel demand.