BENGALURU, July 1 (Reuters) - Gold held on to its overnight gains in Asian trade on Friday and was headed for its fifth straight weekly gain, as a recovery in equity markets post the Brexit vote was offset by a weaker dollar.



FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold XAU= was nearly flat at $1,321.56 an ounce by 0101 GMT. It rose 0.2 percent on Thursday, while registering its biggest monthly rise since February. The yellow metal rose over 7 percent during the April-June quarter.

* U.S. gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,324.40.

* Silver marked its highest since Sept. 2014 at $18.81 per ounce on Thursday, while registering its best quarter in nearly four years.

* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the central bank would probably need to pump more stimulus into Britain's economy over the summer after the shock of last week's decision by voters to leave the European Union.

* Asian stocks rose on Friday as riskier assets continued to recover from the Brexit shock, while the pound came under renewed pressure after the Bank of England's governor hinted of an interest rate cut ahead.

* Britons' vote to leave the European Union has benefited gold as a haven from risk and could fuel longer-term gains if economic uncertainty sparks a broader shift in global monetary policy.

* Societe Generale on Thursday raised its gold price forecasts on fears over the ongoing political, financial and economic fallout of Britain's vote last week to leave the European Union.

* Factory activity in the U.S. Midwest surged to its highest in almost 1-1/2 years in June amid strong gains in new orders and production, offering a ray of hope for the downtrodden manufacturing sector.

* The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has taken steps to help to preserve London's role as a major global gold trading centre by making its management more open and independent, documents seen by Reuters showed.

* CME on Thursday raised initial margins for trading COMEX 100 gold futures (GC) for speculators by 9.1 percent to $6,600 per contract from $6,050, while lowering margins for palladium futures NYMEX (PA) by by 16.7 percent to $3,850 per contract from $4,620.

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DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0100 China Official manufacturing PMI Jun

0100 China Official non-manufacturing PMI Jun

0145 China Caixin manufacturing PMI final Jun

0750 France Markit manufacturing PMI Jun

0755 Germany Markit/BME manufacturing PMI Jun

0800 Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI final Jun

0900 Euro zone Unemployment rate May

1400 U.S. Construction spending May

1400 U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI Jun

(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Davies) ((Sethuraman.NR@thomsonreuters.com;)(Within U.S. 1-651-848-5832, Outside U.S. +91 8067496031)(; Reuters Messaging: nallur.sethuraman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))