SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Gold nursed heavy losses on Tuesday, as strength in the dollar and equities triggered a sell-off in the safe-haven metal and sent it towards the key $1,200 an ounce level.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,207.80 an ounce by 0038 GMT, after losing 1.6 percent in the previous session. Bullion fell to a session low of $1,201.63 on Monday, far below the one-year high of $1,260.60 hit earlier this month.
* U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were little changed after declining 1.7 percent overnight.
* Global stocks rallied on Monday, backed by a rise in oil and commodity prices, while Asian shares rose to a seven-week high early on Tuesday. The dollar rose nearly 1 percent against a basket of major currencies. MKTS/GLOB
* The volatility index .VIX , which measures implied volatility of stock options and is often seen as an investor fear gauge, fell below 20 percent, hitting the lowest closing level since early January.
* Gold has rallied this year largely on the back of turmoil in the stock markets and concerns over the global economy. But the metal has given back some of the gains as markets have stabilised.
* It could be vulnerable to more corrections if stock markets strengthen further.
* Investor flows into bullion funds continued to show bullishness.
* Assets in SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the top gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 2.64 percent to 752.29 tonnes on Monday, the highest since March 2015. GOL/ETF
* The 19.33-tonne inflow matches Friday's increase, which was the fund's biggest single-day inflow since August 2011.
* The fund's inflows since the beginning of the year have already surpassed outflows for the whole of 2015.
* Among other precious metals, silver XAG= was trading near a two-week low of $14.90 an ounce reached on Monday. Platinum XPT= was trading just above a two-week low, while palladium XPD= held steady.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0700 Germany Detailed GDP Q4
0900 Germany Ifo business climate Feb
1400 U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller housing index Dec
1500 U.S. Existing home sales Jan
1500 U.S. Consumer confidence Feb
PRICES AT 0038 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1207.8
-0.56
-0.05 Spot silver
15.195
0.025
0.16 Spot platinum
924.49
-2.01
-0.22 Spot palladium
494.9
1.15
0.23 Comex gold
1208.9
-1.2
-0.1 Comex silver
15.205
0.021
0.14
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months