Gold rises from multi-month lows as dollar weakens

By Apeksha Nair

REUTERS - Gold rose over 1 percent on Monday, recovering from 9-1/2 month lows, as the U.S. dollar extended losses after touching a near 14-year high last week.

Spot gold had gained 0.92 percent to $1,193.80 an ounce by 0532 GMT after climbing as high as $1,197.54 earlier in the session.

The metal marked its lowest since Feb. 8 at $1,171.21 per ounce in the previous session.

U.S. gold futures were up 1.3 percent at $1,193.50 per ounce.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was down 0.67 percent at 100.810 after slipping 0.2 percent in the previous session as U.S. Treasury yields eased from recent peaks.

"The dollar strength has eased somewhat and we may be seeing some buying interest re-enter the market," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.

"There has been some heavy selling over the past couple of weeks, so there may be a touch of technical-based buying."

The metal has fallen about 7 percent so far this month on the back of a stronger U.S. dollar and surging bond yields as investors bet that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's policies would spur growth and inflation.

Federal Reserve policymakers appeared confident on the eve of the presidential election that the economy was strengthening enough to warrant an interest rate hike, minutes from the Fed's early November meeting showed.

A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated gold expensive for holders of other currencies, while higher interest rates could dent the appeal of non-yielding bullion.

Gold was riding on dollar weakness and the support for the yellow metal sits around $1,180 an ounce, while resistance comes in at $1,200, MKS PAMP Group trader Sam Laughlin said.

Traders also said supply concerns in China after a directive from the People's Bank of China to limit gold imports, kept premiums in Shanghai around $22, driven by buoyant demand.

Gold premiums in top consumer China jumped to the highest in nearly three years last week on supply worries.

Demand from South East Asia is also quite good and buying at lower prices could have driven prices higher, said Cameron Alexander, an analyst with Thomson Reuters-owned metals consultancy GFMS.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.73 percent to 885.04 tonnes on Friday.

Spot gold is expected to bounce to resistance at $1,210 per ounce as it has found support at $1,172, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Among other precious metals, silver gained nearly 2 percent to $16.81 an ounce and palladium rose 0.2 percent to $742.50. Platinum was up 1.73 percent at $918.60.

(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Nallur Sethuraman; Editing by Richard Pullin and Subhranshu Sahu)