PRECIOUS-Gold jumps over 2% on retreating U.S. yields, dollar

* Platinum, silver rise more than 3%
* SPDR Gold holdings hit lowest since April 2020

(Updates prices)
By K. Sathya Narayanan
March 9 (Reuters) - Gold surged more than 2% on Tuesday on
the back of a retreat in U.S. Treasury yields and a weaker
dollar, staging a strong recovery from the nine-month low it hit
in the previous session.
Spot gold XAU= rose 2.1% to $1,717.01 per ounce by 1:52
p.m. EST (1852 GMT), having slipped on Monday to $1,676.10, its
lowest level since June 5.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled up 2.3% at $1,716.90.
"I don't know if this is the end to the upside trend in
yields, but it's a start. Gold and silver traders have been
waiting for this and are jumping back into this market, also
given how oversold and low it got," said Bob Haberkorn, senior
market strategist at RJO Futures.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR backed
away from more than a one-year high hit last week, while the
dollar .DXY fell. USD/
While gold is considered a hedge against a potential spike
in inflation from massive economic stimulus measures, rising
bond yields have challenged that status.
Gold may extend gains in the near-term, but "fundamentally,
the pendulum swings in favour of bears especially when factoring
in how global sentiment is improving on vaccine rollouts and
COVID-19 cases are falling globally", said Lukman Otunuga,
senior research analyst at FXTM.
Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, SPDR Gold Trust GLD , fell on Monday to their lowest
level since April 2020. GOL/ETF
"The ETF flows are contributing to a greater impact on
prices on the way down than on the way up. We forecast gold
prices to reach $1,750/oz (in 2021), but given gold's recent
volatility, this forecast has quite low conviction," Societe
Generale said in a note.
Investors are focusing on the Federal Reserve's two-day
policy meeting next week. U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell
has said the Fed's current easy monetary policy stance remains
appropriate.
Silver XAG= rose 3.7% to $26.01 per ounce, while palladium
XPD= fell 0.5% to $2,302.82. Platinum XPT= rose 3.3% to
$1,172.42.