Gold inches down on strong equities, higher U.S. Treasury yields

(Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower for a second session early on Wednesday, as a rally in equities and a surge in U.S. treasury yields dented bullion's safe-haven appeal.

FUNDAMENTALS

- Spot gold > dipped 0.3 percent to $1,309.26 an ounce by 0049 GMT. Prices fell 0.6 percent on Tuesday, its biggest one-day loss in a month.

- Last week, prices touched their highest since Sept. 15 at $1,311.40

- U.S. gold futures were down 0.2 percent at $1,318.10 an ounce.

- The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rival currencies, was steady at 92.517 <.DXY>. It touched over 1-week highs at 92.640 on Tuesday. [USD/]

 

- Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields hit a 10-month high on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan tweaked its bond-buying program, while stocks in world indexes continued their flying start to the year.

- The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have hit records every trading day of the new year, or the past six sessions, providing optimism on the outlook for the rest of the year. [MKTS/GLOB]

- The U.S. Federal Reserve should keep interest rates low so that wage gains accelerate and inflation rises, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday.

- Investors are betting on further U.S. interest rate hikes after Friday's payrolls data did nothing to challenge the outlook for monetary policy tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

- Palladium recorded its life-time high on Tuesday at $1,111.40 an ounce, boosted by increased demand from the automotive industry. It was steady at $1,098.97 on Wednesday.

- Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.35 percent to 831.91 tonnes on Tuesday from 834.86 tonnes on Monday.

- A South African tribal leader has agreed to a more transparent structure for a 175 million rand ($14 million) community trust funded by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) , a move that aims to curb unrest around the firm's most profitable mine.

DATA AHEAD (IN GMT)

- 1330 U.S. Import, Export Prices December

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)