PRECIOUS-Gold jumps 1% to surpass $2,000/oz as dollar dips

* Gold hits one-week high at $2,007.19/oz
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
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https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

(Recasts, adds comment, updates prices)
By Harshith Aranya
Aug 18 (Reuters) - Gold prices climbed 1% to surpass the
$2,000-mark on Tuesday, as the dollar weakened to a more than
two-year low, with traders also focusing on minutes from the
U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting set to release this
week.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.7% to $1,999.26 per ounce by 0717
GMT, having earlier hit a one-week high of $2,007.19.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 were up 0.5% at $2,007.60.
"The fragile currency environment and the weak economic
numbers in the United States are stealing the dollar's
safe-haven appeal," said Vandana Bharti, assistant
vice-president of commodity research at SMC Comtrade.
Safe-haven buying in gold should continue given the amount
of stimulus measures and an increase in novel coronavirus cases,
she added. A softer dollar, which makes gold cheaper for those holding
other currencies, underpinned prices on Tuesday. This added to
the bullion's 32% jump this year following massive global
stimulus measures that fuelled inflation and currency debasement
fears. USD/ On Monday, gold jumped as much as 2.4%, with further impetus
from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buying a stake in major
gold miner Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO . US/
Meanwhile, eyes are also on the minutes from the Fed's last
meeting due on Wednesday. "Traders are getting the last kick at the can ahead of the
FOMC minutes where the view is for the Fed to have talked about
YCC (yields curve control) or inflation-targeting which is bad
for the dollar and good for gold," said Stephen Innes, chief
market strategist at financial services firm AxiCorp. .
Lower yields and interest rates decrease the opportunity
cost of holding non-yielding assets such as gold.
Adding to the pandemic-induced hit to the global economy was
increasing Sino-U.S. friction with the Trump administration
announcing it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei
Technologies Co HWT.UL . MKTS/GLOB
Silver XAG= climbed 2.1% to $27.97 per ounce, and platinum
XPT= gained 1.5% to $963.29. Palladium XPD= fell 0.4% to
$2,190.20.