SINGAPORE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Gold fell for a twelfth session out of thirteen on Friday, trading close to a near-six-year low on rising bets that the Federal Reserve would hike U.S. rates next month.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,084.40 an ounce by 0029 GMT, and on track to post a fourth straight weekly dip.
* The metal tumbled to $1,074.26 in the previous session, the lowest since February 2010.
* Bullion has been under pressure recently as market expectations for a December rate hike in the United States strengthened after a robust nonfarm payrolls report earlier this month.
* Fed officials lined up behind a likely December interest rate hike on Thursday with one key central banker saying the risk of waiting too long was now roughly in balance with the risk of moving too soon to normalize rates after seven years near zero. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N137271
* Higher rates could dent demand for non-yielding gold, while boosting the dollar, prompting investors to pull out of bullion funds ahead of an anticipated rate hike.
* Assets of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell to 661.94 tonnes on Thursday, the lowest since September 2008. GOL/ETF
* Holdings of the top eight gold funds HLDTOTALL=XAU are at their lowest since March 2010.
* Sustained outflows could add to the pressure on gold prices.
* Other precious metals also tracked gold lower. Silver XAG= fell to a 2-1/2-month low in the previous session, and was headed for a fourth straight weekly drop.
* Platinum XPT= , close to a near-seven-year low of $868.75 reached on Thursday, was eyeing its worst weekly drop in a year.
* With a near 10 percent drop, palladium XPD= was headed for its worst week since September 2011.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar was on the defensive against the euro and yen on Friday as risk appetite receded amid a tumble in equities to pull the greenback further away from its recent highs. USD/
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0630 France Preliminary GDP Q3
0700 Germany Preliminary GDP Q3
1000 Euro zone Preliminary GDP Q3
1330 U.S. Retail sales Oct
1500 U.S. Business inventories Sep
1500 U.S. Univ of Michigan sentiment index Nov
PRICES AT 0029 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1084.4
-0.25
-0.02 Spot silver
14.29
0.02
0.14 Spot platinum
879.4
5.41
0.62 Spot palladium
558.9
0.4
0.07 Comex gold
1084.2
3.2
0.3 Comex silver
14.28
0.055
0.39
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months