Gold dips as dollar index climbs to 2018 peak

By Jan Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold fell on Monday, snapping three days of gains as the dollar index hit a fresh high for the year after last week's soft U.S. jobs data did little to dampen optimism about the world's largest economy.

That left traders betting the Federal Reserve would press on with lifting U.S. interest rates this year. Higher rates typically weigh on gold, as they increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.

Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,312.06 an ounce by 1335 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for June delivery were 0.2 percent lower at $1,312.30.

The market was thinned by a national holiday in Britain, which closed trading desks in London.

The dollar index hit a 2018 peak on Monday after U.S. jobs and wages data did little to alter perceptions of strength in the U.S. economy and consequently expectations for more Fed rate hikes.

Meanwhile, a surprise drop in German industrial orders served as a reminder that softer economic data could encourage the European Central Bank to delay the unwinding of its extraordinary stimulus measures.

Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said gold was still primarily driven by the dollar, and the widening interest rate differential between the United States and Europe. "This all boosts the U.S. dollar and weighs on gold," he said.

Investors were therefore tempering bets on higher gold prices, he said, with speculators cutting their net long positions on Comex gold contracts to the lowest since July 2017 with a "massive reduction" in the last few trading weeks.

"Most speculative investors have thrown in the towel already," he said.

Speculators cut their net long positions in COMEX gold by 62,378 contracts to 51,985 contracts in the week to May 1, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.

Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York-based SPDR Gold Shares, fell 0.17 percent to 864.13 tonnes on Friday.

Meanwhile silver was down 0.4 percent at $16.42 an ounce, while palladium was 0.9 percent higher at $976.20.

Platinum was up 0.4 percent at $909.49 an ounce, having earlier hit its highest since April 25 at $918.70. Friday's positioning data from the CFTC suggests the metal may be due a bounce, analysts said.

On platinum, Societe Generale said money managers increased their short positions by 8,813 contracts, taking their short positions as a percentage of total open interest to 41.9 percent, the highest level since July 2017.

"With prices near the bottom of the recent one-year range, platinum is now in the oversold box," the bank said in a note.

(Additional reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair and Adrian Croft)