GLOBAL MARKETS-Dlr slips, Asian shares ease ahead of Fed

* US dollar slides ahead of Fed meeting

* Australian dollar dips after quarter point rate hike

* Gold about $7 from record high on weak dlr, IMF gold sale

By Susan Fenton and Kevin Plumberg

HONG KONG, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The dollar slid on Tuesday, pushing gold prices to near record highs, while Asian stocks eased as investors awaited policy announcements from some key central banks this week for clues on the timing of eventual shifts in policy.

The Australian dollar AUD=D4 slid on profit taking after the Reserve Bank of Australia -- which last month became the first G20 central bank to raise interest rates -- increased its key cash rate by another quarter point as expected.

European stock futures eased, while U.S. equity futures SPc1 were flat with markets awaiting a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting due to begin later in the day.

The dollar fell 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies .DXY as the Fed is not expected to depart from a policy of maintaining low rates for an extended period of time although it could discuss how to prepare markets for an eventual policy shift. [ID:nFEDAHEAD]

The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are expected keep to rates unchanged when they announce policy statements on Thursday.

The Aussie, which traded as high as $0.9092, hit a low of $0.8990 after the RBA was careful not to fuel expectations of another hike in December.

Housing prices are on a tear in Australia, similar to other parts of Asia, keeping monetary authorities increasingly willing to take action to prevent bubbles [ID:nSYU008979], but Tuesday's modest rate rise pointed to gradual not aggressive tightening.

"Clearly the Reserve Bank did not want to frighten the horses by lifting interest rates by half of one percent at this time," said Craig James, chief equities economist at Comsec in Australia. "It is a gradual approach to lifting interest rates."

SWIRE SPIN-OFF

Share prices in Australia dipped while the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.8 percent.

Evidence of a sustained recovery in world industrial activity may force policymakers to spell out the pace at which unusually abundant and cheap money will be withdrawn [ID:nL2419711] and Asian investors appear undecided about the corporate earnings outlook for this quarter, analysts said.

The Thomson Reuters index of regional stocks .TRXFLDAXPU was up 0.4 percent.