Gold slips as equities, dollar rise

By Zandi Shabalala

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Tuesday after U.S. equities hit all-time highs on market expectations for higher growth and more spending from a Donald Trump presidency.

Trump's victory in the Nov. 8 U.S. election initially saw a flight to safe-haven assets such as gold but the trend reversed as the dollar and bond yields surged on expectations of higher U.S. spending and interest rates.

Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,210.37 an ounce by 1517 GMT. The previous day, bullion advanced 0.4 percent to snap three sessions of losses.

U.S. gold futures were flat at $1,210.64 per ounce, after rising as high as $1,220.90.

Safe haven assets such as gold and the Japanese yen are usually the casualties of a flight to risk where the dollar and stocks perform well.

"We are still in the Donald Trump honeymoon period which has taken the equity market quite a bit higher. The market is looking for global growth to come to the rescue," said Saxo Bank head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen.

"The market is resetting its expectations and that is having a negative impact on precious metals."

Stocks have rallied since the election as Trump has promised tax cuts, higher spending on infrastructure and simpler regulations in the banking and healthcare industries. [.N]

Gold has fallen more than $100 an ounce from its post-election peak on Nov. 9 as U.S. Treasury yields posted their biggest two-week rise in more than five years and the dollar shot higher.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of main currencies, inched closer to recent a 13-1/2-year high after snapping a 10-day rising streak on Monday. [USD/]

Adding further pressure on gold was the expected rise in U.S. interest rates in December, traders and analysts said.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising interest rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings fell 0.71 percent to 908.77 tonnes on Monday. Holdings have fallen 3.6 percent so far this month. [GOL/ETF]

Silver rose 1.2 percent to $16.79 an ounce and platinum was 0.8 percent higher at $942.50.

Palladium was up 0.7 percent at $733.48, after touching its strongest since Aug. 10 at $742.20.

(Additional reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by David Evans and Adrian Croft)