PRECIOUS-Gold gains on weaker dollar, all eyes on Fed meeting

* Gold's bullish longer-term fundamentals not changed-
analyst
* COVID-19 vaccine hopes lift equities
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

(Updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
Sept 14 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Monday supported by
a weaker dollar, while investors looked forward to the U.S.
Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week for more cues on
stimulus measures and inflation target.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.2% at $1,944.69 per ounce by 0647
GMT. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 rose 0.3% to $1,953.20.
"The gold market is leaning towards the Fed's (policy),"
said Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCorp, adding
that the U.S. central bank might not change the current
narrative, but there is a strong belief in the market that it
would be able to trigger inflation.
The lower interest rate environment and long-term
expectations that the Fed is going to increase quantitative
easing and weaken the dollar are supporting gold prices, he
added.
The dollar index .DXY eased 0.2% against its rivals, with
focus on the Fed's policy announcement on Wednesday. A weaker
dollar makes gold less expensive for holders of other
currencies. USD/ USD/
Market participants are also waiting for the Bank of Japan
and the Bank of England's policy decisions, due on Thursday.
Major central banks have rolled out unprecedented stimulus
measures and kept interest rates low, driving gold to new highs
because of its role as a hedge against inflation and currency
debasement.
The European Central Bank's president, Christine Lagarde,
said euro zone governments must keep spending heavily to aid the
bloc's recovery from its historic pandemic-induced recession,
complementing already super-easy monetary policy. "Gold's bullish longer-term fundamentals have not changed,"
Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said in a
note. "Gold has well-denoted support between $1,900 and $1,920
an ounce, with trendline resistance at $1,970."
Limiting gold's advance, investors' appetite for riskier
assets increased as hopes for a potential COVID-19 vaccine
resurfaced after AstraZeneca resumed its phase-3 trial.
MKTS/GLOB Silver XAG= gained 0.3% to $26.82 per ounce, platinum
XPT= jumped 1.3% to $936.91, while palladium XPD= fell 0.5%
to $2,309.14.