* Spot gold to fall further towards $1,300/oz -analyst* Trump fires Secretary of State Tillerson (Updates prices; adds comment, NEW YORK to dateline, additionalbyline)By Renita D. Young and Eric OnstadNEW YORK/LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - Gold prices turnedpositive on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar lost ground after newsthat U.S. President Donald Trump replaced Secretary of State RexTillerson, while U.S. inflation data was in line with forecasts.Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,326.49 an ounce by1:42 p.m. EDT (1742 GMT), while U.S. gold futures forApril delivery settled up 0.5 percent at $1,327.10.Trump fired Tillerson after a series of public rifts overpolicy on North Korea, Russia and Iran, replacing him withloyalist Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo. "The dollar is lower and gold is higher off the Tillersonnews. We've been seeing this pattern (of gold following thedollar) because there's no other strong factor leading to buyinggold now," said Bill O'Neill, co-founder of Logic Advisors.The U.S. dollar index relinquished its gains and fellagainst a basket of currencies, making commodities priced in thegreenback cheaper for buyers using other currencies.Also weighing on the dollar was news that U.S. consumerprices cooled in February, the latest indication that anexpected pick-up in inflation is likely to be only gradual. Some investors had been worried stronger-than-expected CPIdata could stoke expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve willraise interest rates four times rather than three this year.
Higher interest rates typically make gold less attractivesince it does not bear interest."Overall the outlook is not looking that great in the shortterm. I still expect prices to go towards $1,300, said GeorgetteBoele, ABN AMRO commodity strategist.Markets are looking to the next Fed meeting for direction onthe pace of U.S. interest rate hikes this year."As we approach next week's FOMC day, we should see goldcome under pressure as it struggles to compete againstinterest-bearing assets," said Daniel Ghali, commoditiesstrategist at TD Securities.Silver rose 0.6 percent at $16.59 an ounce.Platinum was up 0.4 percent at $966.60 an ounce, neara one-week high of $970.90. Palladium climbed 1.7 percentto $995.30 per ounce, after touching a one-week high of $997.40.The platinum price will struggle to move back abovepalladium, ING analyst Oliver Nugent said in a note."Based on our own forecasts, we don't think such a move willhappen for the next few years due to platinum's weakerfundamentals with the palladium backwardation actually making itmore expensive for investors to short the ratio."The platinum/palladium ratio increased from late February.Palladium flipped to a premium over platinum last September forthe first time since 2001.(Additional reporting by Nithin Prasad and Eileen Soreng inBengaluru, and Marcy Nicholson in New YorkEditing by David Goodman and Richard Chang)
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