PRECIOUS-Gold eases as equities climb, but on track for weekly gain

* Gold may break $1,286 resistance, edge up to $1,290-
technicals
* Platinum heading for 5th straight weekly loss
* Palladium on track for first weekly gain in four

(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
May 24 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Friday as stock markets
regained momentum, with a weaker dollar and renewed hopes of a
rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve keeping bullion on track
for a weekly gain.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.1% at $1,281.62 per ounce by
1101 GMT, after rising as much as 1.1% to a one-week peak of
1,287.23 in the previous session. The metal has risen about 0.4%
so far this week.
U.S. gold futures for June GCcv1 were down 0.3% at $1,281.
"Stocks are pointing higher, we have renewed risk appetite
coming into oil markets," said Saxo Bank commodity strategist
Ole Hansen.
"Gold is doing more or less what it is supposed to be,
finding a bid when the other markets fell, but the bid hasn't
really been strong enough this week to push it to levels which
could have attracted renewed buying interest. It's not out of
the woods yet."
World stocks edged higher and oil prices recovered from
bruising falls, after U.S. President Donald Trump nurtured hopes
of progress in U.S.-China talks. MKTS/GLOB Helping bullion's appeal, the dollar index .DXY edged away
from two-year highs after weak U.S. manufacturing activity data
sparked worries that the trade conflict with China may hurt the
world's largest economy and affect the currency's safe-haven
status. USD/ "I think the weak data increases the risk-on getting behind
the curve and cutting rates. That's potentially where we would
see the next move higher in gold when the markets get more
aggressive on rate cuts in the U.S.," Saxo Bank's Hansen said.
Four Fed officials on Thursday said recent ratcheting up of
U.S.-China trade tensions is creating uncertainties for
businesses and could threaten economic growth. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday
she would quit, triggering a contest that will bring a new
leader to power who is likely to push for a more decisive Brexit
divorce deal. "For gold, (May's exit) means nothing, it meant nothing in
the past, don't think it will change now. It will be more
important to see who will succeed May," said Commerzbank analyst
Carsten Fritsch.
On the technical side, spot gold may break a resistance at
$1,286 and edge up to the next resistance at $1,290, according
to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. Among other precious metals, silver XAG= fell 0.4% to
$14.53 per ounce, while palladium XPD= climbed 1.9% to
$1,335.75. Palladium was on track for a 1.8% weekly gain, its
first in four weeks.
Platinum XPT= rose 1.6% to $806.25 an ounce, having
touched its lowest since Feb. 15 at $791 in the previous
session, putting it on track for its fifth straight weekly loss.

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