Gold extends winning streak to sixth week on safe-haven demand

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold retained sharp overnight gains to trade near a 16-week high on Friday and was poised to post its sixth weekly rise in a row, as troubles at a Portuguese bank hammered equities and stoked safe-haven demand for bullion.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold inched up 0.1 percent to $1,336.36 an ounce by 0028 GMT, after closing up 0.7 percent on Thursday, when it rose to a peak of $1,345 - the metal's highest since March 19.

Gold has gained over 1 percent this week. The sixth weekly gain is gold's longest winning streak since Feb-March when it had a similar run.

European and U.S. stock markets fell, and bond yields of Europe's southern nations rose on Thursday as investor fears over financial troubles at the family-owned holding companies behind Banco Espirito Santo spilled across markets and borders.

Meanwhile, India surprised bullion markets by keeping the import duty on gold and silver unchanged at 10 percent in its fiscal budget, a move likely to limit overseas purchases by the second-biggest bullion consumer and further encourage smuggling.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.23 tonnes to 800.05 tonnes on Thursday.

Among other precious metals, platinum and palladium were both headed for their fourth straight weekly gain, while silver was on track for a sixth weekly gain tracking gold.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Richard Pullin)