PRECIOUS-Gold edges up on U.S.-China tariffs; dollar caps upside

* SPDR Gold Trust holdings rise 12% so far this year
* Specs raise bullish stance in gold and silver- CFTC
* Gold could peak around $1,780/oz by end-2020: J.P. Morgan

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments)
By K. Sathya Narayanan
Sept 2 (Reuters) - Gold rose slightly on Monday after the
United States and China imposed new tariffs, as expected, on
each others' goods but a firmer dollar limited gains.
Washington began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of
Chinese goods on Sunday, including footwear, smart watches and
flat-panel televisions, as Beijing began imposing new duties on
U.S. crude. U.S. President Donald Trump said both sides would meet for
talks later this month.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.4% at $1,525.11 per ounce as of
9:12 a.m. EDT (1312 GMT), a session after falling to a one-week
low at $1,517.11.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were up 0.3% at $1,534.20 an
ounce.
Trading could be subdued as U.S. financial markets were
closed for the Labor Day holiday.
"Overall, there is nothing going on apart from the fact that
the dollar is stronger. There was not so much reaction" to the
tariffs because they were "well anticipated," ABN Amro analyst
Georgette Boele said.
The dollar .DXY was the highest in more than two years
against a basket of currencies early in the session, making gold
costlier for investors holding other currencies.
"We can expect a correction in gold prices as it had moved
up so quickly that you don't need so much to trigger profit
taking," Boele added.
Gold rose more than $100 in August due to the trade war,
fears of a global economic downturn, negative yielding debt
around the globe and hopes for interest rate cuts by central
banks.
"Despite the recent rally, we do not yet think a recession
is fully discounted in the gold price and we now see gold prices
peaking at around $1,780 per ounce by year-end 2020 and
averaging $1,418 in 2019 and $1,724 in 2020," Wall Street bank
JP Morgan said in an Aug. 28 note.
Holdings HLDSPDRGT=XAU in the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund (ETF), SPDR Gold Trust GLD , have risen
about 12% this year. GOL/ETF
Speculators increased their bullish stance in COMEX gold and
upped net long positions in silver contracts in the week to Aug.
27, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed
on Friday. "At current levels, both the CFTC and ETF positions remain
bullish and are likely to continue to be so over the near term
should price action remain firm broadly around $1,500-$1,480,"
MKS PAMP said in a note.
Silver XAG= gained 0.1% to $18.37 per ounce. Platinum
XPT= slipped 0.3% to $927.67 per ounce, and palladium XPD=
was down 0.7% at $1,520.74.