Gold gains as dollar weakens further
BENGALURU, April 17 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged higher on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar slipped further, making bullion less expensive for holders of other currencies. FUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,348.82 an ounce as of 0102 GMT, and U.S. gold futures were up 0.1 percent to $1,351.5 an ounce. * The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was down 0.1 percent at 89.384, following a 0.4 percent fall on Monday. * Against the yen, the dollar was off its seven-week high of 107.78 yen touched on Friday as traders braced for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe starting on Tuesday. * The United States accused Russia on Monday of blocking international inspectors from reaching the site of a suspected poison gas attack in Syria and said Russians or Syrians may have tampered with evidence on the ground. * Trump has delayed imposing additional sanctions on Russia and is unlikely to approve them unless Moscow carries out a new cyber attack or some other provocation, a senior administration official said on Monday. * Trump said on Monday he would nominate Richard Clarida as Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, adding another hawkish voice at the central bank. * Gold consumption in China in the first three months of this year fell 5.44 percent to 284.97 tonnes from a year earlier, Chinese state television CCTV reported on Monday, citing data from the China Gold Association. * Kazakhstan raised gold holdings by 3.1 tonnes to 310.1 tonnes in March, while Argentina lowered gold holdings by 6.8 tonnes to about 55 tonnes during the same period, International Monetary Fund data showed on Monday. * Azerbaijan's top gold producer, Anglo Asian Mining , said on Monday it had increased its gold production by 49 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 to 16,479 ounces from 11,078 ounces in the same period last year. * Kalamazoo Resources Ltd said on Tuesday it would purchase three gold projects in Western Australia's Pilbara. * The London Bullion Market Association on Monday said it added Hindustan Zinc Ltd's (HZL) silver refinery in India to its 82-strong 'Good Delivery List', a leading benchmark for silver bar quality. DATA AHEAD (GMT) 0200 China GDP Q1 0200 China Industrial output March 0200 China Retail sales March 0200 China Urban investment March 0900 Germany ZEW economic sentiment April 1230 U.S. Housing starts March 1230 U.S. Building permits March 1315 U.S. Industrial production March (Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
