PRECIOUS-Gold eases on firm dollar, but holds near $1,800 on virus fears

* SPDR Gold Trust holdings rise 0.3% on Monday
* U.S.-China tensions, mounting virus cases weigh on global
stocks
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

(Recasts, adds comments, updates prices)
By Eileen Soreng
July 14 (Reuters) - Gold inched down on Tuesday as the
dollar held firm, but concerns over surging coronavirus cases
globally and renewed US-China tensions underpinned bullion's
safe haven appeal and kept it near $1,800 an ounce.
Spot gold XAU= eased 0.3% to $1,797.64 per ounce by 1009
GMT. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 fell 0.8% to $1,799.60.
"Gold has been the traditional safe-haven but the dollar has
more been favoured on that side of late," OANDA analyst Craig
Erlam said, although global economic stimulus continued to prop
up gold, considered a hedge against inflation and currency
debasement.
"Broadly speaking, gold is looking bullish medium term, but
I won't be surprised to see a little bit of correction off of
this $1,800 level," especially driven by profit-taking.
Weighing on global equities, many parts of Asia are finding
cause to pause the reopening of their economies on a jump in
virus cases, while global cases had crossed the 13 million
threshold. MKTS/GLOB
Apart from the pandemic, a growing rift between the U.S. and
China over the South China Sea region also kept investors wary
and drove them to safe havens, with Beijing announcing it will
slap sanctions on Lockheed Martin LMT.N for involvement in the
latest U.S. arms sale to Chinese-claimed Taiwan.
However, some of those safe-haven flows went to the dollar,
making gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.
USD/
Reflecting investor appetite for gold, holdings of SPDR Gold
Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, rose 0.3% to 1,203.97 tonnes on Monday. GOL/ETF
On the technical front, a bullish target of $1,831 per ounce
has been aborted for spot gold as it is about to break a support
at $1,796, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. TECH/C
Elsewhere, palladium XPD= was steady at $1,980.48 per
ounce and platinum XPT= dipped 0.3% to $825.79.
Silver XAG= dropped 0.7% to $18.95 per ounce, after
hitting its highest since September 2019 on Monday.

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