Gold slips as dollar firms on bets for March rate hike

(Reuters) - Gold prices slipped on Thursday after the dollar firmed on hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials that stoked expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike in March.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold had dropped 0.2 percent to $1,247 per ounce by 0049 GMT. It hit its highest since Nov. 11 at $1,263.80 on Feb. 27.

* U.S. gold futures fell 0.2 percent to $1,247.60.

* The dollar index was firm at 101.820

* U.S. consumer spending cooled in January as demand for automobiles and utilities fell, but inflation recorded its biggest monthly increase in four years, raising the probability of an interest rate hike from the Fed this month.

* The Fed is setting the stage for a U.S. interest rate increase later this month, with the central bank's leading voice on international economics saying the global economy seems to have turned a corner, clearing the way for a hike "soon".

* This week has an unusually high concentration of Fed speeches, with four out of five Fed governors - including Chair Janet Yellen - speaking ahead of the March 14-15 rate meeting.

* New internal Fed rules on public communications make Friday the last chance to set up market expectations before the next Fed meeting.

* Britain's factories have started 2017 strongly but consumers are turning more cautious about borrowing to spend, according to data which suggested the economy will slow after defying the Brexit shock in 2016.

* Asian factories extended a global manufacturing revival as activity picked up steam in February, though the outlook for many of the region's export-reliant economies remained uncertain in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist stance.

* China's move to open its derivatives market to foreign bond investors could help counter outflows but lingering concerns about capital controls are keeping offshore investors cautious.

* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.28 percent to 843.54 tonnes on Wednesday from 841.17 tonnes on Tuesday. [GOL/ETF]

* India's February gold imports surged to 50 tonnes, up more than 82 percent from a year ago, on pent-up jeweller demand and as retail consumers ramped up purchases for weddings, provisional data from consultancy GFMS showed on Wednesday.

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0700 Germany Import prices Jan

1000 Euro zone Inflation Feb

1000 Euro zone Producer prices Jan

1000 Euro zone Unemployment rate Jan

1330 U.S. Weekly jobless claims

1445 U.S. ISM-New York index Feb

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)