Gold fell on Tuesday in the face of competition from safe haven inflows into the dollar as COVID-19 cases increased globally and investors booked profits following bullion's rally to a near eight-year peak.

Spot gold slipped 0.3% to $1,777.72 per ounce by 1213 GMT after earlier touching a high of $1,786.91, just short of Wednesday's nearly eight-year peak of $1,788.96.

U.S. gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,785.70 per ounce.

"Even though the underlying support remains strong and (gold) demand is still on the up, the fact that we're so close to a key level of resistance has attracted some light profit-taking... coronavirus news is not strong enough to add some additional support," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said.

The gold market needs a weaker dollar to make a clean break towards $1,800, Hansen added.

Record increases in novel coronavirus infection in the United States has prompted cities to roll back reopening plans, while India, also the world's second biggest gold consumer, on Monday overtook Russia to record the world's third-highest number of COVID-19 cases.

Commerzbank said in a note the rise in India was likely to keep the physical market subdued.

"The strict curfew in India means that hardly any gold has been sold or imported there for months," it said.

The dollar .DXY rebounded from a two-week low, while European equities fell in response to the U.S. coronavirus infection surge and forecasts for a deeper-than-feared euro zone recession. USD/.EU

"We seem to be bouncing between days of v-shaped optimism and second wave anxiety, creating this very jittery market and we're seeing that in gold as well," OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said.

Elsewhere, palladiumdropped 1.03% to $1,919.37 per ounce, while platinum rose about 1% to $821.17 per ounce.

"Weak sales will keep auto catalyst demand soft this year," ANZ analysts said in a note.

Silver shed about 1% to $18.03 per ounce.

(Reporting by Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis) ((nakul.iyer@thomsonreuters.com; Within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, Outside U.S. +91 80 6749 0417; Reuters Messaging: nakul.iyer.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))