SINGAPORE, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Gold steadied near $1,220 an ounce on Monday, nursing losses from the previous session, but was poised to log its best monthly performance in four years as safe-haven demand from stock market turmoil bolstered the metal.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,221.36 an ounce by 0044 GMT, after dropping 1 percent on Friday on a stronger dollar and an uptick in stocks.
* Friday data showing a rise in U.S. consumer spending in January and a pick-up in underlying inflation also hurt the metal, as it kept Federal Reserve interest rate increases on the table this year.
* The upbeat data on Friday added to reports on manufacturing and the labour market in suggesting economic growth regained momentum early this year after slowing in the fourth quarter. Bullion has rallied about 15 percent this year as investors have sought safety in the metal amid tumbling stock markets and concerns over the global economy. The rally has also been spurred by expectations that the Fed would not raise U.S. rates this year.
* Despite Friday's losses, gold has gained 9.3 percent in February, its biggest monthly jump since January 2012. U.S. gold GCcv1 , with a 9.5 percent gain, was also headed for the best month in four years.
* Money flows into bullion continue to be bullish for prices.
* Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish stances in COMEX gold to a one-year high in the week to Feb. 23, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. They also increased their silver net long stance to near a four-month high. SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.27 percent to 762.41 tonnes on Friday, the highest in about a year.
* Gold funds accumulated their largest inflows since 2009 and equity funds posted their longest run of outflows since 2008 in the last week as financial market turmoil continued to unnerve investors, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (N:BAC) said on Friday. Physical demand in Asia, however, remained subdued last week as buyers were sceptical about the sustainability of the recent price rally, with the Indian market falling to record discounts as consumers postponed purchases in expectation of a cut in the import tax. In mining news, Vedanta Ltd VDAN.NS has won India's first-ever auction of a gold mine, a provincial government official said, as the nation opens up the sector to private companies to curb imports. For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* Asian stocks were off to a cautious start on Monday after a weekend meeting of the Group of 20 economic policymakers ended with no new coordinated action to spur global growth and as solid U.S. data revived expectation of a U.S. rate hike before year-end. MKTS/GLOB
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0700 Germany Import prices Jan
0700 Germany Retail sales Jan
1000 Euro zone Inflation Feb
1445 U.S. Chicago PMI Feb
1500 U.S. Pending homes sales Jan
PRICES AT 0044 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1221.36
-0.85
-0.07 Spot silver
14.723
0.043
0.29 Spot platinum
913.7
0.4
0.04 Spot palladium
484.9
3.68
0.76 Comex gold
1222.3
1.9
0.16 Comex silver
14.71
0.021
0.14
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months