* Risk havens slip as investors reassess Syria strikes
* Palladium climbs again after near 10 pct rise last week
* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Recasts with updated prices, comment throughout; adds byline,NEW YORK dateline)By Chris Prentice and Jan HarveyNEW YORK/LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose onMonday as losses in the U.S. dollar bolstered, though gains weremuted as financial markets bet that air strikes on Syria wouldnot escalate into a wider conflict.Prices have trended sideways since January, buoyed bygeopolitical worries but capped by expectations for further U.S.interest rate hikes and strong technical resistance at$1,360-$1,365 an ounce - their January, February and Aprilhighs.Spot gold was up 0.10 percent at $1,346.31 per ounceby 2:49 p.m. EST, up 0.1 percent, as U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled up 0.21 percent at $1,350.70 perounce.
Forces from the United States, Britain and France targetedSyria with air strikes on Saturday, hitting what they said werethree of its main chemical weapons facilities. Gold prices reached a high of $1,350.52 on the back of thenews, but struggled to maintain those gains amid expectationsthe attacks would not mark the start of greater Westerninvolvement in the conflict. "Some of the risk (premium) has come down following the airstrikes," Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said. "Somemarket participants were thinking that maybe there could be anescalation of the tensions, but that has not happened andtherefore prices have come down a bit."Bullion found support as the dollar sank against the euro. "Syria, China trade tensions, and the dollar index fallingoff are all good reasons for gold prices to continue to rise,"said senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago. "It'sdisappointing there wasn't more of a rally, but traders areturning to equities at these levels."Speculators raised their net long positions in COMEX goldcontracts by 363 contracts to 138,212 contracts in the week toApril 10, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) datashowed on Friday. Silver was up 0.39 percent at $16.683 per ounce.Palladium rose 1.54 percent at $1,002.22 an ounce,off highs of $1,012.10, the strongest since March 1. Platinum was 0.15 percent higher at $928.90.
"Palladium is shooting up because of Russian sanctions,"said George Gero, managing director of RBC Wealth Management.Prices rose 9.6 percent last week, their biggest weekly gainin more than a year, as concerns that supply from number oneproducer Russia could be disrupted by U.S. sanctions fed into astrong technical rebound following the metal's 20 percent fallfrom its January record high.The gyrations shot palladium's premium above platinum above$76 an ounce, the strongest since January.
Platinum has historically been the higher-priced metal, butsupply concerns have driven palladium to a rare premium inrecent months. (Reporting by Jan Harvey; Additional reporting by Swati Vermain Bengaluru; editing by Alexander Smith and Chizu Nomiyama)
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