Gold inches up as dollar drifts away from multi-year peak

(Reuters) - Gold edged higher in Asian trade on Thursday, after ending the prior session nearly flat, as the U.S. dollar retreated from 14-year highs touched earlier this week.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,132.04 an ounce by 0049 GMT. Bullion closed nearly flat in the previous session.

* U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,133.60 per ounce.

* The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped 0.1 percent to 102.960. It reached 103.65 on Tuesday, which was its highest since December 2002. [USD/]

* U.S. home resales unexpectedly rose in November, reaching their highest level in nearly 10 years, likely as buyers rushed into the market to lock in mortgage rates in anticipation of further increases in borrowing costs.

* Japan's government upgraded its overall assessment of the economy on Wednesday, echoing the Bank of Japan's more upbeat view, in a sign the economy may be steadying.

* Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.43 percent to 824.54 tonnes on Wednesday.

* A small Canadian miner is confident Donald Trump's U.S. presidential win will let it proceed with an application for a copper and gold mine in Alaska that has been stalled almost three years by environmental regulators aiming to protect the world's biggest sockeye salmon fishery.

* American Eagle gold coin sales rose to a five-year high in 2016, the U.S. Mint said on Wednesday, after a volatile year that saw prices soar 30 percent in the first seven months, only to tumble in the wake of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's election victory.

* The Royal Canadian Mint has joined a blockchain platform run by Goldmoney Inc , the first time in the world that mint-vaulted bullion has been traded on such a private digital ledger, the Canadian fintech company said on Wednesday.

* The European Commission proposed tightening controls on cash and precious metals transfers from outside the EU on Wednesday, in a bid to shut down one route for funding of militant attacks on the continent.

(Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)