Gold rises as dollar weakens on report Trump's election campaign subpoenaed

By Vijaykumar Vedala

(Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday as the dollar weakened after a report that investigators looking into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election had subpoenaed President Donald Trump's election campaign for documents.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team issued the subpoena last month for documents containing specified Russian keywords from more than a dozen officials, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Spot gold had climbed by 0.3 percent to $1,282.72 per ounce by 0429 GMT. It is up about 0.5 percent for the week, in what could be its second straight weekly gain.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.4 percent to $1,282.70.

"The fall in the dollar and strengthening in Asian currencies have made gold attractive for Asian investors," said John Sharma, an economist with National Australia Bank.

However, uncertainties surrounding a U.S. tax reform bill and a likely interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month are sending mixed signals to the market, keeping gold rangebound, he said.

"Prices should likely continue to hover between $1,260 and $1,290 in the short-term," he added.

Republican U.S. lawmakers on Thursday took an important step toward the biggest tax code overhaul since the 1980s as the House of Representatives approved a broad package of tax cuts sought by Trump.

"Gold prices will continue a sideways drift in the coming months as rising nominal interest rates in the U.S. keep a lid on investment demand," BMI Research said in a note.

"Prices will grind moderately higher in the longer term as developed market inflation rebounds."

San Francisco Fed President John Williams reiterated his view on Thursday that the U.S. economy is growing strongly enough for the Fed to continue raising rates gradually over the next couple of years to around 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said on Thursday she feels inflation is poised to pick up, clearing the way for the Fed to continue its gradual process of raising interest rates.

Spot gold is biased to rise above a neutral range of $1,270-$1,286 per ounce, and gain further towards $1,298, according to Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was down 0.3 percent.

In other precious metals, silver was up 0.1 percent at $17.098 an ounce, platinum rose 0.4 percent to $934.50 and palladium gained 0.3 percent to $990.25.

For the week, silver has risen 1.1 percent, in what could be its best week in five. Platinum is up about 1.1 pct, heading for a third straight weekly rise, while palladium is down 0.3 percent.

(Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford and Subhranshu Sahu)