Gold holds near one-week high on subdued dollar, equities

Gold inched higher on Tuesday, trading just below a more than one-week peak hit in the previous session, as Asian equities eased and the dollar weakened following sombre U.S. economic data.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,299.34 per ounce as of 0101 GMT, after touching its highest since March 28 at $1,303.61 in the previous session.

U.S. gold futures gained 0.1 percent to $1,302.80 an ounce.

The dollar sagged on Tuesday after weak U.S. economic data while commodity-linked currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars drew support from an ongoing surge in crude oil prices.

British shoppers cut back spending for the first time in almost a year last month, reflecting a mix of seasonal pressures and Brexit worries, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday.

Turkey raised its gold holdings by 17.11 tonnes to 495.86 tonnes in March, while Ecuador revised its January figures by 10.58 tonnes to 16.95 tonnes, according to a data from International Monetary Fund.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell about 0.2 percent to 760.49 tonnes on Monday from 761.67 tonnes on Friday.

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