PRECIOUS-Gold plunges as stocks gain ahead of Fed policy meeting | Metals and mines

March 18 (Reuters) – The price of gold fell on Monday due to rising stock markets and the stability of the dollar before holding a meeting on US Federal Reserve policy this week. .

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was down about 0.2% to $ 1,299.15 per ounce around 1113 GMT.

* US futures on gold fell 0.3% to $ 1,299.10 an ounce.

* Spot palladium fell 0.8% to $ 1,547 an ounce, after posting its record high of $ 1,567.50 in the previous session.

* The dollar remained stable at 96.593, against a basket of major currencies, after falling 0.2% in the previous session.

* Asian equity markets rose on Monday, as bonds were in demand globally, speculating that the US Federal Reserve would look decidedly dovish at its political meeting this week.

* There is a lot of talk that Fed policymakers are reducing their interest rate forecasts, or "point charts," to show little or no tightening this year.

* Uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy and trade, as well as the sharp slowdown in US growth expected by a whole series of forecasters, mean that markets are about to trigger the Fed's signals.

* US manufacturing output fell for a second consecutive month in February, and New York mill activity hit its lowest level in two years this month, providing further evidence of the net slowdown in production. economic growth early in the first quarter.

* The Chinese government has taken additional monetary policy measures to support economic growth this year, and will even cut "its own flesh" to help fund large-scale tax cuts, the Prime Minister said Friday. Li Keqiang.

* The government of British Prime Minister Theresa May was striving Sunday to ask Parliament for support for its agreement on Brexit for the third time, in order to persuade those who doubt with threats and promising to avoid any attempt to topple him.

* President Donald Trump on Friday pronounced the first veto of his presidency to block a move by Democrats and Republicans in Congress that would end his urgent declaration for a wall on the US border with Mexico.

* The South African Labor Court dismissed a request from the Miners' Association and the Construction Sector (AMCU) to organize a strike across the sector covering the platinum and marine sectors. Gold, announced Friday Anglogold Ashanti, Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin.

* The physical demand for gold improved this week in India, as the local price correction attracted shoppers, especially in the wedding season, while premiums in China increased as a result of regular purchases by the principal. consumer of the world.

* Hedge funds and fund managers reduced their long net position from 6,097 contracts to 41,774 in COMEX gold in the week to March 12, the US Commodity Futures Commission (CFTC) announced Friday. .

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell about 0.2% on Friday. (Report by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru, edited by Rashmi Aich)