(Updates yields in late trading)

By Joice Alves

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Euro zone government bond

yields steadied on Wednesday as investors awaited central bank

policy updates, including a rate decision from the Federal

Reserve later in the day, and a meeting between the U.S. and

Chinese presidents on Thursday.

The U.S. Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates on

Wednesday, while both the European Central Bank and

the Bank of Japan are expected to hold rates steady on Thursday.

Traders are also watching U.S. President Donald Trump's Asia

trip for any signs of an improved relationship with China.

Trump said in a speech in South Korea, where he is scheduled

to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, that he thought they would

get a "great deal" done for both sides.

Sources told Reuters that China's state-owned COFCO had

bought three U.S. soybean cargoes this week in another sign of

easing tensions between the world's two largest economies.

"Markets appear to be in a wait-and-watch mode with a busy

calendar ahead. Focus is on the Fed and ECB meetings, the

Trump-Xi summit and a host of earnings releases this week," said

Mohit Kumar, chief strategist for Europe at Jefferies.

"For the Fed today, we expect a 25 basis point cut and an

end to QT (Quantitative Tightening). (Fed Chair Jerome) Powell

would not have a lot of data to back any strong conviction for

the future outlook," Kumar added.

MICROSOFT ( MSFT ), ALPHABET AND META TO REPORT EARNINGS

Testing markets' appetite for risky assets and the

artificial-intelligence-fuelled stock rally, American technology

companies Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet and Meta

are due to report earnings later on Wednesday.

The German 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for

the euro zone bloc, was little changed late on Wednesday at

2.62%, having traded around this level for most of the day.

Italy's 10-year yield dipped 1.6 basis points to

3.386%.

Germany's 2-year yields, which are more sensitive

to expectations for ECB monetary policy, were also little

changed at 1.98%.

The yield gap between safe-haven Bunds and 10-year French

government bonds - a market gauge of the risk

premium investors demand to hold French debt - is also taking a

breather, standing at 77.8 bps.

The spread hit 87.96 bps in early October, its widest since

January, driven by investor concerns over France's fiscal

trajectory.