Gold rises from one-month lows; palladium at discount to platinum

REUTERS - Gold rose on Thursday after falling to one-month lows on expectations of a rise in U.S. interest rates this year, while platinum fell to a discount against palladium for the first time since 2001 on waning demand for diesel cars.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,284.36 per ounce at 0127 GMT after it revisited the previous session's low of $1,280.72 an ounce, the lowest since Aug. 25

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.1 percent to $1,287.00 per ounce.

* Palladium hit price parity with its better-known sister metal platinum on Wednesday for the first time since 2001, as demand expectations for the two assets diverge.

* Platinum is more heavily used in diesel vehicles that have fallen out of favour since 2015's Volkswagen emissions-rigging scandal. Palladium has benefited from the switch to petrol engines and expectations for growth in hybrid electric vehicles, which tend to be gasoline-powered.

* President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed the biggest U.S. tax overhaul in three decades, offering to cut taxes for most Americans but prompting criticism that the plan favours the rich and companies and could add trillions of dollars to the deficit.

* The dollar on Wednesday climbed to a one-month high against a basket of currencies, while financial stocks and Treasury yields rose after strong economic data helped boost expectations for a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December.

* New orders for U.S.-made capital goods increased more than expected in August and shipments maintained their upward trend, pointing to underlying strength in the economy despite an anticipated drag on growth from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

* Gold smuggling in India, the world's second-biggest consumer of the metal, is likely to rise during the country's peak holiday season as buyers try to avoid paying a new sales tax and to dodge new transparency rules.

* The Fed has no need to raise interest rates anytime soon because U.S. economic growth will not rise appreciably over 2 percent this year and inflation will likely remain low, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Wednesday.

* The "reflation," or "Trumpflation," trade that drove financial markets after Trump's surprise U.S. presidential election victory last November made a comeback on Wednesday as the unveiling of Trump's long-promised tax overhaul revived bets that markets would benefit from both faster economic growth and inflation.

(Reporting by Nithin Prasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)