SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Gold traded near a 15-month peak on Monday as a tumble in the dollar and weakness in global equities bolstered the metal close to $1,300 an ounce.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= steadied at $1,292.90 an ounce by 0029 GMT, after climbing to $1,296.11 on Friday, the highest level since January 2015.
* U.S. gold futures GCcv1 rose 0.4 percent to $1,295.40. They hit a 15-month top of $1,299 in the previous session before paring some gains.
* Silver XAG= eased 0.2 percent to $17.78 following a 15-month top of $17.958 reached on Friday.
* Liquidity during Asian trading hours will likely be thin as several markets are shut for the Labour Day holiday.
* The U.S. dollar on Friday logged its biggest weekly percentage decline against the yen since the 2008 financial crisis in the aftermath of the Bank of Japan's decision not to ease policy further.
* The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit an eight-month low. Stocks in Europe and Wall Street headed lower as earnings disappointed. MKTS/GLOB
* The dollar was also dragged lower by weak U.S. economic data that supported the Federal Reserve's cautious stance on higher U.S. interest rates.
* U.S. inflation barely rose in March as consumer spending remained tepid, making it less likely that the Fed will be able to follow through on its projected two interest rate increases this year. The central bank's policy statement released last week was viewed as largely dovish, supporting gold.
* Bullion is sensitive to rising interest rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
* Hedge funds and money managers added to their bullish stance in COMEX silver for the third straight week, taking it to a record high in the week to April 26, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.
* The speculators cut their net long position in gold futures and options, taking it off a 3-1/2-year high. The U.S. Mint sold 105,500 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in April, up 177.6 percent from the previous month, according to the latest data. For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0755 Germany Markit/BME manufacturing PMI Apr
0800 Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI final Apr
1400 U.S. Construction spending Mar
1400 U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI Apr
PRICES AT 0029 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1292.9
-0.46
-0.04 Spot silver
17.78
-0.04
-0.22 Spot platinum
1071.99
-2.51
-0.23 Spot palladium
622.47
-2.03
-0.33 Comex gold
1295.4
4.9
0.38 Comex silver
17.845
0.026
0.15
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months