SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - Gold was trading close to a three-month high on Monday, as more soft U.S. data stoked expectations the Federal Reserve would not hike interest rates soon.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,222.50 an ounce by 0023 GMT, not far from a February-high of $1,227.04 that was matched last week.

* As of Friday, gold has risen for four straight days in its longest winning streak since March.

* The metal has been supported in recent days by sluggish U.S. economic data, which has hurt the dollar and altered expectations regarding the Fed' monetary policy.

* U.S. industrial production unexpectedly fell for a fifth straight month in April, suggesting that the economy is growing at only a modest pace in the second quarter. Other data on Friday showed U.S. consumer sentiment fell to a seven-month low in early May. ID:nL1N0Y60TN

* The weak data bolstered views the economy was not recovering strongly enough for the U.S. central bank to raise rates from record lows.

* That view has supported non-interest-paying bullion, which would have seen demand decline with higher rates.

* Markets had earlier expected the Fed to act in June.

* The dollar languished around a three-month low against the euro in early Asian trade on Monday, also supporting gold's appeal as a safe-haven. USD/

* Economists cut their forecasts for U.S. economic growth in the second quarter and full year, and trimmed expectations for U.S. labour market gains, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's quarterly survey. ID:nN9N0XE00D

* Hedge funds and money managers increased net long positions in silver and gold in the week ended May 12, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. ID:nL1N0Y61WC

* Hedge fund Paulson & Co kept its stakes unchanged in most of its gold investments in the first quarter, when the precious metal's price pared its gains, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Friday. ID:nL1N0Y62EV

* For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL/

MARKET NEWS

* Treasury yields dropped on Friday following a stabilization in European government bonds and another batch of weak U.S. data. U.S. stocks finished near flat, though the S&P 500 eked out another record closing high and major indexes posted gains for the week. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0130 China House prices Apr

1400 U.S. NAHB housing market index May

PRICES AT 0023 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg

Spot gold 1222.5 -0.4 -0.03 Spot silver 17.52 0.04 0.23 Spot platinum 1164.6 1.82 0.16 Spot palladium 791 2.8 0.36 Comex gold 1222.4 -2.9 -0.24 Comex silver 17.535 -0.028 -0.16 Euro 1.1437 DXY 93.23

COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Joseph Radford) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3726; Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: @AnanthalakshmiA))

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