FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold
* Bullion has lost about 7.5 percent of its value in November, its steepest monthly fall since June 2013.
* The precious metal has fallen out of favour as investors position themselves for the first U.S. rate hike in nearly a decade. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates at its next policy meeting in December.
* Investors believe gold, as a non-interest-paying asset, will take a hit to demand from higher rates as the dollar gains.
* The greenback is already trading near an eight-month high, and further strength could hurt dollar-denominated gold.
* Assets in SPDR Gold Trust
* For trading cues this week, bullion traders would be focussed on the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday. A strong jobs report could seal the case for a rate hike at Fed's Dec. 15-16 meeting.
* The European Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday will also be eyed for impact on the currency markets. The ECB is widely expected to ease policy.
* Elsewhere, gold miners in Australia, emboldened by a weakening currency, have been increasing production in the face of a global rout in the precious metal, figures released on Sunday showed.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click
MARKET NEWS
* Currency markets got off to a nondescript start on Monday thanks to an uneventful weekend, but the prospect of further policy easing this week by the European Central Bank is likely to keep the euro on the defensive.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
1300 Germany Consumer prices Nov
1445 U.S. Chicago PMI Nov
1500 U.S. Pending homes sales Oct
PRICES AT 0028 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg
Spot gold 1057 -0.23 -0.02 Spot silver 14.05 0 0 Spot platinum 826.45 -4.55 -0.55 Spot palladium 541.47 -6.53 -1.19 Comex gold 1056 -0.2 -0.02 Comex silver 14.005 -0.003 -0.02
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Richard Pullin) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3726; Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: @AnanthalakshmiA))
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Keywords: GLOBAL PRECIOUS/