Stronger stocks, dollar push down gold to near $1,200

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold nursed heavy losses on Tuesday, as strength in the dollar and equities triggered a sell-off in the safe-haven metal and sent it towards the key $1,200 an ounce level.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was steady at $1,207.80 an ounce by 0038 GMT, after losing 1.6 percent in the previous session. Bullion fell to a session low of $1,201.63 on Monday, far below the one-year high of $1,260.60 hit earlier this month.

* U.S. gold futures were little changed after declining 1.7 percent overnight.

* Global stocks rallied on Monday, backed by a rise in oil and commodity prices, while Asian shares rose to a seven-week high early on Tuesday. The dollar rose nearly 1 percent against a basket of major currencies.

* The volatility index, which measures implied volatility of stock options and is often seen as an investor fear gauge, fell below 20 percent, hitting the lowest closing level since early January.

* Gold has rallied this year largely on the back of turmoil in the stock markets and concerns over the global economy. But the metal has given back some of the gains as markets have stabilised.

* It could be vulnerable to more corrections if stock markets strengthen further.

* Investor flows into bullion funds continued to show bullishness.

* Assets in SPDR Gold Trust, the top gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 2.64 percent to 752.29 tonnes on Monday, the highest since March 2015. [GOL/ETF]

* The 19.33-tonne inflow matches Friday's increase, which was the fund's biggest single-day inflow since August 2011.

* The fund's inflows since the beginning of the year have already surpassed outflows for the whole of 2015.

* Among other precious metals, silver was trading near a two-week low of $14.90 an ounce reached on Monday. Platinum was trading just above a two-week low, while palladium held steady.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Joseph Radford)