* Gold retreats from Friday's three-week high
* Dollar rebounds 0.35 pct vs euro after drop
* FBI's Clinton investigation keeps U.S. election in focus (Updates prices)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Gold dipped on Monday as the dollar rebounded after recent losses, though concerns over the outlook for the U.S. election and Federal Reserve policy kept the metal pinned near the previous session's three-week high.
The metal hit its highest since Oct. 4 on Friday after the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced another investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server while she was secretary of state. shook up markets that had priced in a Clinton victory over Republican Donald Trump, prompting losses in stocks and the dollar.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.3 percent at $1,272.33 an ounce at 1230 GMT. U.S. gold futures GCv1 for December delivery fell by $3.20 to $1,273.60. Spot prices remain within $15 of Friday's high, however.
"People had been presuming the election was a done deal for Clinton," said Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah. "If this means her lead is reduced, the gold market could benefit from that uncertainty."
October U.S. payrolls data on Friday will be of great interest this week, he said, while markets are looking for pointers on policy when the Fed meets on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"We're not expecting a rate hike in November, but we'll be looking at the language," Dahdah said. "That could be a mover."
While hardly anyone expects Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed policymakers to move only a week before the Nov. 8 election, they appear to have left themselves the December meeting to deliver a rate rise in 2016. is highly sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
Speculators raised their net long positions in COMEX gold for the first time in four weeks in the week to Oct. 25 and cut it slightly in silver, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. other precious metals, silver XAG= was up 0.4 percent at $17.81 an ounce but poised to post a monthly decline.
Platinum XPT= was down 0.2 percent at $976.49 and set to record its third consecutive monthly drop while palladium XPD= , down 0.4 percent at $617.30, was heading for its biggest monthly drop since November, down 14 percent.
The current price weakness in platinum group metals is driven by speculaion wih no justification from fundamentals, Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) said in a note.
"The downward pressure on palladium from ETF (exchange-traded funds) sales appears to be easing. We therefore continue to see palladium at $625 per troy ounce at year's end."