* Gold bounces back after ending worst week since March
* Markets await U.S. Fed's policy meeting minutes on Wednesday
* Dollar falls to more than one-week low, Treasury yields dip
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser
(Recasts, updates prices, adds comment)
By Sumita Layek
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Gold jumped over 2% to its highest in nearly a week on Monday as a weaker dollar, a pull-back in U.S. Treasury yields along with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) buying a stake in major gold miner bolstered investor morale.
Spot gold XAU= climbed 1.9% to $1,981.41 an ounce by 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT) and U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled up 2.5% at $1,998.70.
Gold last week registered its biggest decline since March as investors reassessed positions after bullion retreated sharply from a record peak of $2,072.50 scaled on Aug. 7.
"The sharp pullback in prices and the price action that has followed has revealed quite a bit about the underlying extent of speculative appetite for precious metals," said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities, adding that the fact Warren Buffett has now "embraced gold" is helping sentiment.
A regulatory filing on Friday disclosed Berkshire Hathaway's new 20.9 million share investment in one of the world's largest mining companies, Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO . that he has bought a stock and not gold commodity itself, it does provide a compelling narrative for those that were looking to buy gold and perhaps remained on the sidelines, but the positive sentiment now is helping them pull the trigger," Ghali added.
Also helping gold, the dollar .DXY fell to a more than one-week low, benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields eased and the New York Fed's Empire State Manufacturing Survey index dropped to 3.7. USD/ US/ now await the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting on Wednesday. market expects the Fed to be very supportive, we'll be above $2,000 per ounce before Fed minutes, and north of $2,250 by the end of year," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
Elsewhere, silver XAG= rose 3.7% to $27.37 an ounce, platinum XPT= gained 1.5% to $950.03 and palladium XPD= jumped 4.1% to $2,194.55.