MANILA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Gold opened the trading week
higher on Monday as Asian stocks tumbled to their lowest since
2011 on the heels of weak U.S. economic data that fuelled a
sell-off on Wall Street.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.2 percent at $1,090.71 an ounce
by 0036 GMT, after losing 1.4 percent last week.
* U.S. gold for February delivery GCcv1 was flat at
$1,090.90 an ounce.
* U.S. retail sales fell in December along with industrial
production, the latest indication that economic growth braked
sharply in the fourth quarter.
* After the disappointing data, the Atlanta Federal
Reserve's closely-watched GDPNow forecast model showed the U.S.
economy is on track to grow 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter,
slowing sharply from 2.0 percent in the third quarter.
* The renewed weakness in the world's top economy raises
doubts about whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest
rates again in March, boding well for non-interest bearing
assets like gold.
* Hedge funds and money managers switched to their first
bullish bet in COMEX gold in two months and lifted their bullish
bet in silver in the week to Jan. 12, U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click
TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares slid to 2011 troughs following the weak U.S.
economic data and falls in oil prices that showed no sign of
abating, stoking further worries about a global economic
downturn. MKTS/GLOB
* The safe-haven yen got off to a flying start while the
Australian dollar, usually sold off in times of market stress,
stayed under pressure. USD/
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0130 China House prices Dec