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PRECIOUS-Gold hits 3-week peak as equities ditched on Trump worries

Published 23/03/2017, 06:05 am
© Reuters.  PRECIOUS-Gold hits 3-week peak as equities ditched on Trump worries
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* SPDR Gold holdings up 0.5 pct after three sessions of outflows

* Silver and platinum off two-week highs hit in previous session

* Palladium hits highest in more than a month (Updates prices; adds comment, details, second byline, NEW YORK dateline)

By Marcy Nicholson and Zandi Shabalala

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - Gold climbed to a three-week high on Wednesday as the dollar fell to seven-week lows and bond yields sank on uncertainty over the economic policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Spot gold XAU= was up 0.4 percent at $1,249.98 an ounce by 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT), close to the session high of $1,251.26, the highest since Feb. 28.

U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled up 0.3 percent at $1,249.70.

Trump and Republican congressional leaders appeared to be losing the battle to get enough support to pass their Obamacare rollback bill. Mark Meadows, who heads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said his group had more than enough members to stop the bill from passing. current House Republican rollback plan is scheduled for a floor vote on Thursday.

"I think that's giving the market more clarity that it's probably not going to be passed, and they're reacting to that," said Ryan McKay, associate commodities strategist for TD Securities in Toronto.

"This could keep the Fed more measured regarding the pace of rate hikes, which has seen yields, U.S. dollar, and equities fall off while gold rallies."

A lack of concrete policy from the Trump administration is increasing gold's attraction as a safe-haven investment, analysts and traders said.

Most U.S. and European share indexes fell or were little changed, while the greenback .DXY extended losses to a seven-week low against a basket of major currencies, on concerns over potential delays to Trump's pro-growth policies unnerved investors. MKTS/GLOB

Gold was also supported by a further drop in U.S. Treasury yields, with the 10-year benchmark yield US10YT=RJR dipping to the lowest since Feb. 28.

Gold has rallied around $50 from last Wednesday's low and clocked its longest winning streak since early January after a less hawkish tone on interest rates in the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy statement last week.

"The repositioning of investors since the (Fed) meeting continues unabated, with investors becoming less bearish as a result of the subdued outlook for rates in 2018," ANZ analysts said in a note.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.5 percent to 834.40 tonnes on Tuesday after three sessions of outflows.

The gold market shrugged off what police called a terrorist incident in London. other precious metals, spot silver XAG= turned up 0.06 percent at $17.51 an ounce, while platinum XPT= fell 0.8 percent at $959.

Palladium XPD= eased by 0.06 percent to $786.50 after hitting $794.30, its highest since Feb. 17. (Additonal reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman and Dale Hudson)

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