MANILA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Monday,
stretching last week's losses on concern that the Federal
Reserve is on course to raise interest rates this year despite
recent market turmoil.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was down 0.2 percent at $1,131.30 an
ounce by 0107 GMT, after dropping more than 2 percent last week
in its steepest decline in five weeks.
* U.S. gold for December delivery eased 0.3 percent
to $1,131.10 an ounce.
* The Fed left the door open to a September interest rate
hike even while several U.S. central bank officials acknowledged
that turmoil in financial markets, if prolonged, could delay the
first policy tightening in nearly a decade.
* Some top policymakers, including Fed Vice Chairman Stanley
Fischer, said recent volatility in global markets could quickly
ease and possibly pave the way for the U.S. rate hike, for which
investors, governments and central banks around the world are
bracing.
* But hedge funds and money managers hiked a bullish bet in
COMEX gold and raised their net long position in silver futures
and options in the week ended Aug. 25, U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
* A stronger U.S. dollar is helping drive Australian gold
production and buffeting local prospectors from the effects of a
global sell-off in bullion, according to a sector survey
released on Sunday.
MARKET NEWS
* Asian stocks sagged after top Fed officials kept the door
open for an interest rate hike next month and investors braced
for China economic data this week.
* The dollar was off recent lows on hopes that U.S. jobs
data later this week would give the U.S. central bank reason to
raise interest rates as early as next month.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0900 Euro zone Consumer prices Aug
1345 U.S. Chicago PMI Aug