Gold prices inch up; British PM's Brexit speech in focus

(Reuters) - Gold prices inched up on Tuesday, after hitting more than seven-week highs in the prior session, ahead of a speech by British Prime Minister Theresa May on plans for a "hard Brexit", which could dent risk sentiment and boost safe-haven assets like gold.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold had risen 0.1 percent to $1,203.89 per ounce by 0133 GMT. Bullion hit a more than seven-week high of $1,207.86 in the previous session.

* U.S. gold futures were up 0.6 percent at $1,203.70 per ounce.

* Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it "half in, half out" of the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday, according to her office, in a speech setting out her 12 priorities for upcoming divorce talks with the bloc.

 

* Markets will also look to Trump and his plans for the U.S. economy after his inauguration on Friday. Analysts generally expect higher interest rates to strengthen the dollar this year, capping gold's gains.

* A trade war between the United States and China and a strengthening dollar are among the biggest threats to a brightening global economic outlook, according to leading economists at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

* The International Monetary Fund on Monday said the U.S. economy would grow faster than previously expected in 2017 and 2018 based on the incoming Trump administration's tax and spending plans, but it kept its global growth forecasts unchanged due to weakness in some emerging markets.

* Inflation, industrial production and housing data dominate a holiday-shortened week in the United States. The reports are expected to show the economy ended 2016 with strong momentum.

* The U.S. Labor Department is expected to report on Wednesday that consumer prices increased 0.3 percent in December after rising 0.2 percent in November. Core CPI is forecast to rise 0.2 percent after a similar increase in November.

* Fed Chair Janet Yellen will have an opportunity to lay out her thinking with speeches on monetary policy on both Wednesday and Thursday this week.

* The European Central Bank bought a record-breaking 24.7 billion euros ($26.18 billion) worth of debt last week, taking advantage of a bumper supply of bank bonds to boost its economic stimulus programme.

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford and Sonali Paul)