* United States, UK, France strike Syria's chemical weapons sites
* Spot gold to rise to $1,355/oz- technicals
* Specs raise net long positions in COMEX gold- CFTC (Updates prices, adds analyst comment, details)
By Swati Verma
BENGALURU, April 16 (Reuters) - Gold prices were little changed in Asian trade on Monday as markets assessed the possible consequences of a U.S.-led missile strike against Syria over the weekend, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against a poison gas attack.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.1 percent at $1,344.03 an ounce as of 0753 GMT, while U.S. gold futures GCcv1 eased 0.1 percent to $1,346.80 an ounce.
Forces from the United States, Britain and France pounded Syria with air strikes early on Saturday, hitting three of Syria's main chemical weapons facilities. too early to say what the impact is; if you think what the risk assets and dollar has done in Asian hours, gold is steady in comparison. It has done its job and brought stability to those who hold gold in their portfolio," said Dominic Schnider at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong.
Asia shares ex-Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.7 percent and the dollar index .DXY was down 0.1 percent. MKTS/GLOB USD/
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that further Western attacks on Syria would bring chaos to world affairs, as Washington prepared to increase pressure on Russia with new economic sanctions. prices are biased upwards in the short-term as gold is still seen as a safe-haven asset amid tensions over Syria, U.S.-Russia sanctions and trade war," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.
Spot gold may break a resistance at $1,348 per ounce and rise more towards the next resistance at $1,355, said Reuters' technical analyst Wang Tao. TECH/C
Speculators raised their net long positions in COMEX gold contracts by 363 contracts to 138,212 contracts in the week to April 10, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday. CFTC/
Dealers trimmed their short positions in silver by 3,187 contracts to 36,417 contracts, the data showed.
Silver XAG= fell 0.3 percent to $16.57 per ounce, while platinum XPT= gained 0.1 percent to $928.20 an ounce.
Palladium XPD= was 0.2 percent lower at $985.10 per ounce after hitting a three-week high of $990.50 on Friday. Prices rose 9.6 percent last week, their biggest weekly gain since January 2017.