PRECIOUS-Gold gains on rate-cut hopes; focus on U.S. GDP data

(Updates prices)
* SPDR Gold holdings dipped 0.4% on Thursday
* Gold biased to break $1,412/oz, fall to $1,386 -
technicals
* Silver, platinum on track for third weekly gain
* Gold down 0.7% so far this week

By Harshith Aranya
July 26 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday, moving away
from a one-week low touched in the previous session, on
expectations of monetary policy easing from leading central
banks, while investors awaited U.S. economic growth data due
later in the day.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.4% at $1,419.53 per ounce, as of
0743 GMT, after falling to a one-week low of $1,410.77 in the
previous session.
However, the metal has lost about 0.4% so far this week,
putting it on track for its first weekly decline in three.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 were up 0.3% at $1,418.80.
"Positive view on gold is driven by expectations of broad
monetary easing by key central banks globally, including the
Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB)," said Heng
Koon How, head of markets strategy at Singapore's United
Overseas Bank.
Market participants are now looking forward to the U.S.
central bank's July 30-31 monetary policy meeting, where it is
expected to trim its interest rate by at least 25 basis points.
The ECB left interest rates unchanged at its meeting on
Thursday, but its President Mario Draghi signalled that the bank
was prepared to cut rates in September. "ECB is sort of delaying the dovish stance to get the Fed
out of the way, they did not want the Fed to steal their
thunder," said Stephen Innes, managing partner, Vanguard
Markets.
"Weaker longs in the market will be worried and they better
be sellers going into the FOMC meeting, because the market has
priced in too dovish of a lead," he added.
Meanwhile, the dollar index .DXY was holding near a
two-month high hit in the previous session, making gold
expensive for holders of other currencies. USD/
U.S. GDP data, which is due on Friday, is expected to show
that U.S. economic growth slowed to 1.8% in the second quarter
from 3.1% in the previous quarter. On the technical front, spot gold is biased to break a
support at $1,412 per ounce and fall towards $1,386, according
to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, dropped 0.36% to 819.32 tonnes
on Thursday from Wednesday. GOL/ETF
Among other precious metals, silver XAG= gained 0.3%
$16.45 per ounce and was on track for its third straight weekly
rise.
Platinum XPT= was steady at $864.47 per ounce and was
heading for its third consecutive weekly gain.
Palladium XPD= edged 0.1% higher to $1,532.50 and the
auto-catalyst metal was on course to mark its first weekly gain
in three.