* SPDR gold holdings down about 14 pct since U.S. elections
* Dollar index stays near 14-year highs
* Platinum, palladium down from near 3-week peaks hit Tuesday (Recasts, adds comment)
By Swati Verma
BENGALURU, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged up on Wednesday as buoyant physical demand from major consumers China and India offset the impact of a stronger U.S. dollar.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.3 percent at $1,162.68 an ounce by 0639 GMT. Prices touched their highest in three weeks on Tuesday at $1,163.52.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 climbed 0.1 percent to $1,163.20 per ounce.
"Physical demand from China and India is quite strong at the moment," said NAB analyst Vyanne Lai.
"With the upcoming Chinese New Year there is a seasonally strong period for jewellery and in India the shortage of cash has prompted some safe-haven buying from Indian consumers as source of wealth."
She added that policies of President-elect Donald Trump in the United States had been stoking appetite for gold as a hedge against inflation, despite the strong U.S. dollar.
U.S. factory activity sped to a two-year high in December amid a surge in new orders, while manufacturing in the euro zone grew at its fastest pace in five years. dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 103.25 after climbing to 103.82 the previous day, its strongest since December 2002. USD/
A firm dollar curbs demand for commodities priced in the greenback by making them more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, dropped 1.01 percent to 813.87 tonnes on Tuesday. Holdings are down about 14 percent since the U.S. presidential election in November. GOL/ETF
"We expect ... appetite to remain cautious at least for the time being," said Barnabas Gan, an analyst at OCBC Bank in Singapore.
NAB's Lai said that if bond yields and stock prices rose, then demand for gold would likely diminish over the year.
"If the (U.S.) rate hike frequency picks up we are likely to see bond prices rise further, that would in turn encourage investors to switch out of ETFs into alternative assets."
Meanwhile, silver XAG= was up 0.6 percent at $16.37 an ounce, after hitting near three-week highs in the last session.
Platinum XPT= dipped 0.5 percent to $932.40, having risen over 4 percent the day before.
Palladium XPD= gained 0.6 percent to $713.30 an ounce. It climbed over 4.5 percent on Tuesday.