* Trump says he will hike U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods thisweek
* SPDR gold holdings fall to lowest since Oct. 11
* Asian, European stocks tumble (Updates prices)By Harshith AranyaMay 6 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on Monday as thedollar gained after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened toraise tariffs on Chinese goods, escalating Sino-U.S. tradetensions and prompting investors to sell riskier assets.Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,277.66 perounce, as of 1324 GMT. U.S. gold futures were down 0.1percent to $1,279.80 an ounce.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would raisetariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week. Healso said he would target a further $325 billion of Chinesegoods with 25 percent tariffs "shortly", essentially coveringall products imported into the United States from China. "We are seeing the markets reacting to uncertainty abouttrade talks. It is creating some nervousness in the markets. Thedollar is a tad stronger, countering some of the potential moveswe would have seen otherwise in gold," said Ole Hansen,commodity strategist at Saxo Bank.The dollar, which was the preferred safe-haven fromU.S.-China trade tensions since last year, was up 0.1 percent. Gold had earlier hit a near one-week peak of $1,285.51 anounce as Trump's comments dented global shares and oil prices. "Despite the increase in gold prices, technical analysissuggests that downward pressure on the yellow metal continues tomanifest," OCBC analysts said in a research note, adding thatmost of the intra-day move was likely related to covering shortpositions and hedging against market risks."The medium term still suggests a large range-boundconsolidation of $1,270 to $1,300."Last week, the mood among gold investors had turned gloomy,pushing the metal to a four-month low after the U.S. FederalReserve Chairman Jerome Powell dashed hopes of a rate cut thisyear. Hedge funds and money managers switched to a net longposition in COMEX gold in the week to April 30, the U.S.Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday. "The hedge fund community is extremely confused, flippinglong and short positions. $1,290 is the key level for gold, andif prices break above that we could see quite an addition on thelong side," Hansen said.
Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world'slargest gold backed exchange, were at their lowest since Oct.11. Holdings fell 0.6 percent on Friday. However, physical demand for the metal had been robust lastweek with India and Singapore leveraging the correction inprices ahead of a key gold-buying festival. Silver slipped 1 percent to $14.78 per ounce, whileplatinum fell 1.2 percent to $858.25 per ounce.Palladium dropped 1.6 percent to $1,348.51 an ounce.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by EmeliaSithole-Matarise and Jane Merriman)