PRECIOUS-Gold rises on trade uncertainty; on course for best month in 3 years

* Bullion up nearly 8.4% this month
* Silver to post biggest monthly gain in six months
* Palladium heads for best month in 2-1/2 years
* Spot gold may retest resistance at $1,439/oz -technicals

(Updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
June 28 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday, heading for
their best month in three years, as uncertainty loomed over
whether the highly anticipated trade talks between China and the
United States would yield any progress in ending a year-long
trade dispute.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.3% at $1,413.80 per ounce as of
0742 GMT. Gold has risen nearly 8.4% so far this month, on track
for its biggest monthly percentage gain since June 2016.
With nearly 1.2% gained so far this week, the bullion is
also set to post its sixth consecutive weekly rise.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 climbed 0.3% to $1,416.60 an ounce.
The leaders of the Group of 20 countries meet on Friday and
Saturday in Osaka, Japan, with a much-anticipated meeting
between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi
Jinping scheduled for Saturday.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that Xi plans
to present Trump with a set of terms the United States should
meet before Beijing would be ready to settle their trade
dispute.
White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, however, said
Trump has agreed to no preconditions for his high-stakes meeting
with Xi and is maintaining his threat to impose new tariffs on
Chinese goods.
"Ongoing tensions around the trade talks between the U.S.
and China helped gold with some safe-haven buying prior to the
G20 summit meeting on Saturday," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.
"The emergence of a list of requirements from China has just
reminded the market that it's going to be a difficult process to
get the trade talks going again," he said.
The trade tensions also weighed on equity markets on Friday,
boosting appeal for safe-haven bullion. MKTS/GLOB
The yellow metal was also underpinned by a softer dollar.
The dollar index .DXY declined slightly after touching a near
one-week high in the previous session. USD/
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, fell 0.26% to 795.80 tonnes on Thursday,
from 797.85 tonnes on Wednesday. GOL/ETF
On the technical front, spot gold may retest a resistance at
$1,439 per ounce, as it has found support at $1,404, according
to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Among other precious metals, silver XAG= inched down 0.1%
to $15.24 per ounce. The metal is set to post its first monthly
gain in five months, and is headed for its best month this year.
Palladium XPD= fell 0.8% to $1,537.82 an ounce. However,
the auto-catalyst metal has risen over 16% so far this month,
its biggest monthly percentage gain since November 2016.
Platinum XPT= was up 0.4% at $814.56.