April 22 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Thursday to hover near an eight-week high touched in the last session, as a sagging dollar and weaker U.S. Treasury yields boosted the metal's appeal, while palladium held close to an all-time high hit in the previous session.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1% at $1,794.67 per ounce by 0115 GMT, after hitting its highest since Feb. 25 at $1,797.41 on Wednesday.
* U.S. gold futures GCv1 rose 0.1% to $1,795.40 per ounce.
* Palladium XPD= gained 0.1% to $2,877.26 an ounce, having surged to an all-time high of $2,891.20 per ounce on Wednesday, boosted by supply concerns for the auto-catalyst metal.
* Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR was pinned below 1.6%, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. US/
* The dollar index .DXY fell 0.1% against its rivals, making gold less expensive for other currency holders. USD/
* A bipartisan U.S. congressional push to counteract China picked up steam on Wednesday as a Senate committee overwhelmingly backed a bill pressing Beijing on human rights and economic competition and other lawmakers introduced a measure seeking billions for technology research. The U.S. economy will grow at its fastest annual pace in decades this year and outperform most of its major peers, but another COVID-19 surge was the biggest risk over the next three months, a Reuters poll showed. Market participants await a European Central Bank meeting due later today and a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.
* More than 143.22 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 3,187,963 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Among other precious metals, silver XAG= eased 0.1% to $26.55 per ounce and platinum XPT= slipped 0.2% to $1,211.96.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0645 France Business Climate Mfg
April 1145 EU
ECB Refinancing, Deposit Rates April 1230 US
Initial Jobless Clm
Weekly 1400 US
Existing Home Sales
March Governing Council of the ECB holds monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt