PRECIOUS-Gold falls to near 6-year low with Fed still in focus

* Stronger stocks, dollar help send gold to near 6-year low
* Spot silver falls for the 14th straight session
* Platinum extends losses to 7-year low

(Rewrites first paragraph, updates prices, adds comment, second
byline, NEW YORK dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell more
than 1 percent to the lowest price in nearly six years on
Tuesday, pressured by expectations that the United States will
raise interest rates in December, and as the dollar rose and
stocks rebounded from losses suffered after Friday's attacks in
Paris.
The other precious metals followed gold down, with silver
dropping for the fourteenth straight session to a 2-1/2-month
low and platinum tapping a seven-year low.
Spot gold XAU= was down 1 percent at $1,071.96 an ounce at
3:19 p.m. EST (2019 GMT), after falling to $1,065.18, the lowest
since February 2010.
U.S. gold futures GCZ5 for December delivery settled down
1.4 percent at $1,068.60.
"The euro's on the defensive, the equity markets have done
okay and (there are) expectations of a rate rise," said James
Steel, chief metals analyst at HSBC Securities in New York.
Bullion prices have fallen for 14 out of the past 15
sessions under pressure from expectations that the U.S. Federal
Reserve is set to raise interest rates for the first time in
nearly a decade.
That would lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding
gold while boosting the dollar.
Data showing that U.S. consumer prices rose in October after
two months of declines fed into those expectations.
ID:nLNNHMEBI6
"If inflation starts picking up, the Fed will be feeling a
lot more stable with their future rate hike approach," Ava Trade
analyst Naeem Aslam said. "The U.S. rate hike is still the major
denominator for the gold price."
Shares in major markets rallied, while the U.S. dollar and
Treasury yields rose as firming inflation backed expectations of
an impending interest rate hike. MKTS/GLOB
"We believe that gold will face further headwinds in the
next few weeks as an extension of euro zone quantitative easing
is announced in December, thus pushing up the dollar against the
euro and other major currencies, and as the market fully prices
in a mid-December Fed rate rise," Mitsubishi said in a note.
Silver XAG= fell 0.1 percent to $14.08, the lowest since
late August.
"I think it's a handmaiden to gold. In a period where gold
is in this slump it's very difficult for silver to rally, even
if the physical demand seems quite good," Steel said.
Spot platinum XPT= was down 1.7 percent at $845 an ounce,
the lowest since December 2008, having fallen 16 out of the past
18 sessions.
Palladium XPD= fell 1.5 percent to $540 an ounce.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GRAPHIC-Asset returns http://link.reuters.com/dub25t
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>