Gold up on weaker dollar after U.S. jobs data

REUTERS - Gold prices crawled higher on Monday on a weaker dollar after mixed U.S. jobs data late last week lowered expectations for near-term interest rate hikes.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold had gained 0.2 percent to $1,222.30 per ounce by 0053 GMT.

* U.S. gold futures rose 0.2 percent to $1,223.20 per ounce.

* The dollar Index was down 0.2 percent at 99.723.

* U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring, but wages barely rose, handing the administration under President Donald Trump both a head start and a challenge as it seeks to boost the economy.

* Wall Street's top banks expect just two rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year and see only modest risk to the U.S. central bank being pressed into a more aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening, a Reuters polls showed on Friday.

* Asian shares edged ahead on Monday as Wall Street gathered momentum into a busy week of earnings with more than 100 major companies due to report, while the dollar was again hobbled by a lack of progress on U.S. fiscal stimulus.

* China's central bank surprised financial markets on Friday by raising short-term interest rates on the first day back from a long holiday, in a further sign of policy tightening as the economy shows signs of steadying.

* Speculators increased their net long position in COMEX gold contracts in the week to Jan. 31.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.41 percent to 814.51 tonnes on Friday from 811.22 tonnes on Thursday.

* The Perth Mint's sales of gold products rose in January to the highest in three months, while silver sales nearly tripled from last month, the mint said in a blog post on its website on Friday.

* A bounce in investment to a four-year high drove a modest gain in gold demand last year, data from the World Gold Council showed on Friday, even as use of the metal in jewellery slid to its lowest since 2009 and coin and bar buying slid.

* Demand for gold in India rose last week as many jewellers resumed purchases after having stayed away for a few weeks hoping for an import duty cut in the government budget.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)