* SPDR Gold Trust holdings rose on Monday
* Silver touches lowest since Sept. 11
* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Recasts, updates prices and adds comments)By Sumita LayekNov 13 (Reuters) - Gold edged back above $1,200 an ounce onTuesday and was on track to rise for the first trading sessionin eight, recovering losses as the dollar paused in a rally thathad taken the currency to 16-month highs.
The dollar has benefited over the last week fromexpectations for further U.S. interest rate hikes, as well asconcerns over Italy's budget and ongoing Brexit talks. However,it ran out of steam on Tuesday. That allowed spot gold to edge up 0.1 percent to$1,202.08 per ounce by 1357 GMT, after the metal fell to itslowest since Oct. 11 at $1,195.90 earlier in the day. U.S. goldfutures were down 0.1 percent at $1,202.7 per ounce."The dollar pausing has given gold some room to breathe,especially after a seven-session losing streak," said Tai Wong,head of metals trading at BMO. "The first hurdle for gold is thebottom of the recent range at $1,210."Gold had traded between $1,211 and $1,243 an ounce for muchof the last month before slipping sharply over the last twosessions.
The dollar index , which measures the U.S. unit'sperformance against a basket of major currencies, eased 0.2percent, having hit its highest since June 2017 in the previoussession. Dollar strength has outweighed any positive impact of riskaversion on gold, traditionally also seen as a safe store ofvalue in times of market volatility.The $1,200 level is important psychologically and from atechnical point of view, Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said."It will be quite crucial for gold to keep this level inorder to not see bigger downside risks," he said.Gold posted its biggest weekly drop since August last weekafter the U.S. Federal Reserve reaffirmed its commitment totightening monetary policy, a move likely to weigh on interestin non-yielding bullion.More positively, holdings of the world's largest gold-backedexchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , rose 0.90 percentto 762.00 tonnes on Monday. Its holdings hit their lowest sinceearly 2016 last month after declining over the summer. Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.5percent at $14.02 per ounce, having touched a more thantwo-month low of $13.92 earlier in the session.Palladium climbed 1.4 percent to $1,110.80 per ounce,while platinum rose 0.5 percent to $844.90 an ounce. (Reporting by Sumita Layek and Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru;Editing by Jan Harvey)
Outside U.S. +91 8067491638; Reuters Messaging:Sumita.Layek.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.