Gold up for fourth straight session on North Korea tensions

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices edged up to touch their highest in over two months on Friday, set for a fourth consecutive day of gains as rising tensions between the United States and North Korea stoked safe-haven buying.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,287.90 per ounce at 0042 GMT. Earlier in the session, it marked its highest since June 8 an $1,288.52 an ounce.

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.3 percent to $1,294.10 per ounce.

* President Donald Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric toward North Korea and its leader on Thursday, warning Pyongyang against attacking Guam or U.S. allies after it disclosed plans to fire missiles over Japan to land near the U.S. Pacific territory.

* On Friday, the dollar set an eight-week low against the yen, Australian stock futures slumped early and other Asian markets looked set to follow on the tensions between the United States and North Korea. [MKTS/GLOB][USD]

* U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in July, recording their biggest drop in nearly a year and pointing to a further moderation in inflation that could delay a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

* Gold demand in India remained sluggish this week as local prices jumped to their highest level in nearly three months and a rally in global prices of the precious metal dampened fresh buying elsewhere in Asia. [GOL/AS]

* The Fed expects "very weak" U.S. inflation to rebound thanks to a slide in the dollar and to a labour market that keeps getting hotter, one of the Fed's most influential officials said in comments that reinforce its gradual policy-tightening plan.

* The European Central Bank is slightly more likely to announce a change to its asset purchases programme in September than October, a Reuters poll found.

* Japan's exports were expected to record an eighth straight month of growth in July, a Reuters poll found, suggesting robust offshore demand could underpin moderate economic recovery.

(Reporting by Nithin Prasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)