* Gold at four-month lows
* U.S. bond yields at two-month highs
* German and U.S. economic data bolsters risk appetite
* Net long at its lowest since January
* Silver at 15-month lows (Updates throughout with market comment, latest market moves; adds byline, NEW YORK dateline)
By Chris Prentice and Peter Hobson
NEW YORK/LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged up on Monday from their lowest since mid-March in choppy trade, after nearing technical support and as traders awaited signals from central banks on interest rate hikes.
Bullion is highly sensitive to rising rates because they push up bond yields, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold. They also tend to boost the dollar, in which gold is priced.
Traders were looking ahead to Wednesday and Thursday, when U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will address Congress. stalling right after the selling got a little exhausted on Friday," said Phillip Streible, senior commodities broker for RJO Futures in Chicago. "A lot of people are forward-looking, waiting for Janet Yellen's testimony later on this week."
Spot gold XAU= , which dropped 2.3 percent last week, was up 0.07 percent at $1,213.61 per ounce by 2:32 p.m. EDT (1832 GMT), turning up after hitting $1,204.45, the lowest since March 15.
U.S. gold GCcv1 futures for August delivery settled up $3.50, or 0.29 percent, at $1,213.20 per ounce.
Traders expected monetary tightening from many central banks. That rationale was bolstered by better than expected U.S. jobs data and strong German export figures. also fuelled optimism about the global growth outlook, encouraging investors to ditch gold for riskier assets. MKTS/GLOB .DXY
U.S. 10-year bond yields have risen sharply since late June, while gold is down nearly 7 percent from a high of $1,295.97 a month ago. US/ US10YT=RR
Investors have sharply scaled back bets, reducing their net long positions in COMEX gold in the week to July 3 by more than half to the smallest bullish stance since January. holdings at the world's largest bullion-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell 2 percent in the week to Friday. GLD
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) analysts said that investors should buy at about $1,200 because Indian demand, which was dented by a new sales tax, is likely to recover and U.S. interest rates are expected to rise slowly over the next few years.
Technical support for gold was at $1,200 and $1,195, the March low, ScotiaMocatta analysts said in a note.
Spot silver XAG= edged up 0.45 percent to $15.65 per ounce, after earlier falling to $15.16. Prices are near their lowest since April last year and investors' bullish stance in the week to July 3 fell to its lowest since December 2015. XPT= was down 0.47 percent at $899.25 per ounce and palladium XPD= was up 0.27 percent at $840.78 per ounce.