* Spot gold faces strong resistance at $1,238/oz- technicals
* Speculators cut net short position in week to Oct. 23
By Vijaykumar Vedala
BENGALURU, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower on Monday as the dollar firmed, but the metal moved in a narrow range as worries over U.S. corporate earnings and a slowdown in global economic growth weighed on Asian shares.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.2 percent $1,230.68 an ounce at 0807 GMT, with prices moving in a range of $6. On Friday, it touched its highest since July 17 at $1,243.32. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were down 0.3 percent at $1,232.70 an ounce.
"There are two camps diverging around the likely performance of the stock market, particularly in the short-term which is creating a push and pull for the gold market where we have seen some interest return on the back of those losses," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.
"But the flow hasn't been completely one-way and there is still some caution around the sell-off being potentially short-lived. And that has resulted in investors not fully switching out of equity markets into gold."
Worries about China's slowing economy spread across Asian markets on Monday with U.S. stock futures turning down and Chinese shares in the red as concerns about U.S. corporate earnings and global growth continued to hit the trading sentiment. MKTS/GLOB
"Much of what will transpire in gold over the course of the coming week will ride on the tone of the U.S. stock market," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said.
"Obviously, if the decline continues, gold should likely work higher, but the strength in the dollar is somewhat surprising and seems to be capping a more robust rally."
Gold prices have gained more than 6 percent after declining to $1,159.96 an ounce mid-August, the lowest since January 2017.
However, the yellow metal has declined nearly 10 percent from its April peak after investors preferred the dollar as the U.S.-China trade war unfolded against a background of higher U.S. interest rates.
The dollar edged higher against a basket of its key rivals .DXY on Monday, and was not far off a 10-week high hit on Friday after data showed U.S. economic growth slowed less than expected.
"The push in the dollar index is pushing gold prices little bit lower. But gold prices are still very solid (at their current levels)," Think Markets UK chief markets analyst Naeem Aslam said.
Spot gold faces a strong resistance at $1,238 per ounce and it may either hover below this level or retrace towards a support at $1,217, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. funds and money managers cut their net short positions in Comex gold by 10,473 contracts to 26,899 contracts in the week to Oct. 23, the smallest net short position since mid-July, data showed. other precious metals, palladium XPD= was down 0.3 percent at $1,101.0 an ounce.
Silver XAG= was up 0.1 percent at $14.62 per ounce, while platinum XPT= gained 0.1 percent at $832.0 an ounce.