Gold firms on weak dollar as focus turns to U.S. debate

By Jan Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold rose on Monday as a retreat in the dollar helped it build on last week's gains but moves were muted with markets awaiting a U.S. presidential debate for pointers as to the outcome of November's election.

The precious metal rose more than 2 percent last week, its biggest weekly gain in nearly two months, thanks chiefly to the U.S. Federal Reserve's cautious tone on interest rates after its policy meeting on Wednesday.

Spot gold was at $1,340.93 an ounce at 1435 GMT, up 0.3 percent, while U.S. gold futures for December delivery were $3.40 an ounce higher at $1,345.10.

"The dollar is a bit weaker since this morning, but also the oil price is much higher and this is contributing to some uptrends in commodities in general," Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg said.

Oil rallied on Monday as the world's largest producers gathered in Algeria to discuss ways to support the market.

Stock markets declined in Europe and Asia, tracking losses on Wall Street, as appetite for assets seen as higher risk was blunted by the looming U.S. presidential debate and uncertainty about oil prices ahead of the informal OPEC meeting.

The first face-off between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton will take place at 0100 GMT on Tuesday, with investors looking for clues about who will win the race to lead the world's biggest economy.

This evening's presidential debate is likely to be "very interesting" for gold, Weinberg said. "(More support) for Trump after the debate is likely to add to support for gold."

Rising support for Trump could increase uncertainty, and therefore interest in gold as a haven from risk, analysts said.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday that hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in COMEX gold for the second straight week in the seven days to Sept. 20.

"Demand from hedge funds and investors ... has been absent in recent weeks," Saxo Bank head of commodity research Ole Hansen said. "Underlying support remains, but having traded sideways for the past three months investors have become cautious."

"A technical break above $1,346 would force a response and the strength of that would indicate whether it's onwards and upwards or back down to test support."

Weakness in risk appetite weighed on the more industrial precious metals, with platinum down 0.6 percent at $1,043.99 and palladium 1 percent lower at $692.97.

Silver was down 0.3 percent at $19.58.

(Additional reporting by Swati Verma and Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by David Goodman and David Clarke)