Gold at six-week high; platinum gains on S. African strikes

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold edged higher on Monday to its highest in nearly six weeks, supported by weaker equities, which are lifting the metal's safe-haven appeal and improving investor confidence.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,257 an ounce by 0012 GMT, after hitting $1,259.46 earlier - the highest since December 11. Platinum gained on upcoming strikes in South Africa.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 7.49 tonnes to 797.05 tonnes on Friday - the first increase in a month.

Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets in gold and silver futures and options for a third consecutive week, as equities' weakness prompted funds to add precious metal positions, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.

 

Deutsche Bank will withdraw from gold and silver benchmark price setting, it said on Friday, as European regulators investigate suspected manipulation of precious metals prices by banks.

The main trade union for South African platinum miners will strike this week at the world's top three producers, hitting over half of global output and the margins of companies struggling to make profits.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Ed Davies)