BENGALURU, June 20 (Reuters) - Gold fell 1 percent in early trade on Monday as opinion polls indicated an increasing possibility of Britain opting to remain in the European Union in a referendum later this week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= had dropped 1.1 percent to $1,284.50 an ounce by 0044 GMT. Bullion, which rose 2 percent last week, touched a low of $1,281.05 an ounce on Monday.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 slid 0.5 percent to $1,287.90
* Asian stocks gained early on Monday as rising expectations of Britain voting to remain in the EU lifted risk sentiment and the pound jumped against its peers. MKTS/GLOB
* A vote on June 23 by Britain to leave the 28-member EU, dubbed "Brexit," could tip Europe back into recession, putting more pressure on the global economy.
* Three opinion polls ahead of Thursday's vote showed the 'Remain' camp recovering some momentum, although the overall picture remained one of an evenly split electorate. U.S. stock markets could see heavy trading and increased volatility this week as investors position for the British referendum. The U.S. economy may only need one rate hike for as long as 2-1/2 years and the Federal Reserve is eroding its credibility by indicating otherwise, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said. The New York Fed lowered its forecasts for U.S. economic growth in the second and third quarter largely due to recent negative data on domestic manufacturing activity. Hedge funds and money managers took their bullish stance in gold to the highest in nearly five years in the week to June 14, U.S. government data showed. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.59 percent to 907.88 tonnes on Friday, the highest since September 2013. GOL/ETF
* INTL FCStone Inc INTL.O has hiked the amount of cash customers have to deposit with them to trade gold, silver and sterling futures, a relatively rare step that shows financial firms are bracing for volatile trading ahead of Britain's vote on Europe.
* Russia's largest gold producer Polyus PLZL.MM plans to sell 5 percent of its existing shares on the Moscow bourse when market conditions are right, Chief Executive Pavel Grachev told Reuters on Friday. For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET REPORT
* The pound climbed 0.9 percent, extending a recovery from last week's two-month trough of $1.4013. It jumped 1.7 percent to 151.75 yen GBPJPY= R, pulling well away from a three-year trough of 145.34 set on Thursday. USD/
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0600 Germany producer prices May