Gold hovers near 5-week lows amid dollar pressure, rising yields

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices on Thursday stayed close to five-week lows hit in the previous session, pressured by a stronger dollar, which hovered near more than three-month highs, and a rise in U.S. Treasury yields.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,323.34 per ounce at 0101 GMT. The yellow metal on Wednesday hit a low of $1,318.51 an ounce, its lowest since March 21.

* U.S. gold futures gained 0.1 percent at $1,324.60 an ounce.

* The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was steady at 91.177 after rising to as much as 91.261 in the previous session, its highest since Jan. 12. [FRX/]

* Asian stocks edged up on Thursday as robust corporate earnings helped Wall Street quell concerns over a surge in U.S. bond yields. [MKTS/GLOB]

* The benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year yield edged above 3 percent on Wednesday as jitters about growing federal borrowing spurred more selling in the U.S. government bonds, paving the path for it to visit levels not seen since July 2011. [US/]

* The European Central Bank is set to keep policy unchanged on Thursday, playing down worries over recent softness in the euro zone economy and leaving the door open to ending its lavish bond purchase scheme by the close of the year.

* U.S. retail investors are losing their appetite for physical gold as buoyant stock markets offer tempting alternatives, sending sales of newly minted coins to their lowest in a decade.

* Australia's biggest gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd on Thursday reported a fall in third-quarter output and cut its full year production forecast for gold and copper.

* Kyrgyz gold miner Kyrgyzaltyn has not yet seen or studied an offer by Chaarat Gold Holdings to take over the Kumtor gold mine, its deputy chief executive, Bektur Sagynov, said on Wednesday.

* South Africa's Gold Fields reported lower production for the March quarter and flagged more challenges at its problematic South Deep mine on Wednesday, sending its share price sharply lower.

* World No. 1 platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Wednesday it had raised 390 million rand ($31 million) after the sale of most of its stake in smaller black-owned rival Royal Bafokeng Platinum .

(Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)