SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Gold traded near a 15-month
peak on Monday as a tumble in the dollar and weakness in global
equities bolstered the metal close to $1,300 an ounce.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= steadied at $1,292.90 an ounce by 0029
GMT, after climbing to $1,296.11 on Friday, the highest level
since January 2015.
* U.S. gold futures GCcv1 rose 0.4 percent to $1,295.40.
They hit a 15-month top of $1,299 in the previous session before
paring some gains.
* Silver XAG= eased 0.2 percent to $17.78 following a
15-month top of $17.958 reached on Friday.
* Liquidity during Asian trading hours will likely be thin
as several markets are shut for the Labour Day holiday.
* The U.S. dollar on Friday logged its biggest weekly
percentage decline against the yen since the 2008 financial
crisis in the aftermath of the Bank of Japan's decision not to
ease policy further.
* The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against a basket of six major currencies, hit an eight-month
low. Stocks in Europe and Wall Street headed lower as earnings
disappointed. MKTS/GLOB
* The dollar was also dragged lower by weak U.S. economic
data that supported the Federal Reserve's cautious stance on
higher U.S. interest rates.
* U.S. inflation barely rose in March as consumer spending
remained tepid, making it less likely that the Fed will be able
to follow through on its projected two interest rate increases
this year.
* The central bank's policy statement released last week was
viewed as largely dovish, supporting gold.
* Bullion is sensitive to rising interest rates, which lift
the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while
boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
* Hedge funds and money managers added to their bullish
stance in COMEX silver for the third straight week, taking it to
a record high in the week to April 26, U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.
* The speculators cut their net long position in gold
futures and options, taking it off a 3-1/2-year high.
* The U.S. Mint sold 105,500 ounces of American Eagle gold
coins in April, up 177.6 percent from the previous month,
according to the latest data.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click
TOP/MTL or GOL
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0755 Germany Markit/BME manufacturing PMI Apr
0800 Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI final Apr
1400 U.S. Construction spending Mar
1400 U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI Apr
PRICES AT 0029 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg
Spot gold 1292.9 -0.46 -0.04
Spot silver 17.78 -0.04 -0.22
Spot platinum 1071.99 -2.51 -0.23
Spot palladium 622.47 -2.03 -0.33
Comex gold 1295.4 4.9 0.38
Comex silver 17.845 0.026 0.15
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the
most active months