* Gold moves in on 12-week high after gaining 5 pct in Jan
* China official manufacturing PMI at lowest since 2012
* Coming up: U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI at 1500 GMT
(Adds details, quotes; changes dateline from MANILA)
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Gold edged higher on Monday,
extending its recent rally on worries about global economic
growth and hopes for easier monetary policy after weak factory
data in Asia and Europe.
China's official measure of manufacturing in January fell to
the lowest since mid-2012 while factory growth across the euro
zone slowed as incoming orders showed no meaningful increase.
"That China data was disappointing, very weak in both
manufacturing and non-manufacturing, which coupled with the
ongoing turmoil on global markets and uncertainties about growth
going forwards have helped gold to get above the $1,115/20
resistance level," said Robin Bhar, head of metals research at
Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) in London.
Spot gold XAU= added 0.4 percent at $1,122.18 an ounce by
1103 GMT. Bullion gained 5.4 percent last month, its largest
gain since January 2015.
Spot gold touched a 12-week high of $1,127.80 on Wednesday,
after the Fed said it was closely watching the global economy
and financial markets and their impact on the U.S. economy.
Weaker fourth-quarter U.S. economic growth underpinned hopes
that the Federal Reserve would slow the pace of future U.S. rate
increases, aiding gold by cutting the opportunity cost of
holding non-yielding bullion and keeping a lid on the dollar.
U.S. gold for April delivery GCcv1 rose 0.6 percent to
$1,123.10 an ounce.
Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund
(ETF), New York's SPDR Gold Trust GLD , increased about 4
percent in January, the most in a year.
"There are a lot of bullish factors out there, but critical
levels are approaching and that will be an acid test for the
gold market," Bhar added.
Gold may run out of steam at key resistance of $1,130/35,
where medium- and long-term downtrend lines converge, he said.
Societe Generale sees gold averaging at $1,040 in the first
quarter and $955 in the last quarter of the year.
Hedge funds and money managers boosted their bullish bet in
COMEX gold to a 12-week high in the week to Jan. 26, U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
"The latest CFTC data (is) showing longs building and shorts
closing positions. However, the net long fund position in gold
is still 70 percent below the 12-month high," Daniel Hynes,
senior commodity strategist at ANZ, said in a note.
Spot silver XAG= rose 0.5 percent to $14.33 an ounce,
platinum XPT= slipped 0.2 percent to $869.04 and palladium
XPD= was off 0.6 percent at $495.70.