Gold rises on softer dollar as focus shifts to US inflation data

By Brijesh Patel

(Reuters) - Gold prices gained on Tuesday, helped by a weaker dollar as investors look forward to U.S. inflation data due later this week for more clarity on interest rate cut timings.

Spot gold was up 0.3% at $2,357.44 per ounce by 1:55 p.m. ET (1755 GMT). U.S. gold futures settled 0.9% higher at $2,356.5.

"The dollar index is down and we are seeing the yield curve rates drop a little bit. Gold is coming off a correction and is hovering around resistance levels and now it's bouncing again," said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.

"We continue to be fairly optimistic on gold. I still think that ambiguity of Federal Reserve monetary policy may very well keep gold from taking off and moves be very much data dependent going forward."

The dollar slipped to a more than one-week low, making gold less expensive for other currency holders. [USD/]

Focus this week will be on the U.S. core personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, due on Friday.

Fed meeting minutes released last week showed that the policy response, for now, would involve maintaining the benchmark rate at its current level.

Traders are pricing in about a 63% chance of a Fed rate cut by November. Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.

"Gold prices are likely to remain fairly supported by buying-on-dips demand and central bank diversification," said Amelia Xiao Fu, head of commodity market strategy at Bank of China International.

Demand from global central banks for gold has been elevated for two years as they diversify their foreign currency reserves.

Meanwhile, global physically-backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw net outflows of 11.3 metric tons last week, according to the World Gold Council.

Silver gained 0.9% to $31.95 after a 4.4% jump on Monday. Platinum climbed 0.3% to $1,057.10. Palladium eased 1.1% to $978.00.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Polina Devit in London; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar and Alan Barona)