Gold perched at one-month high on inflation worries

By Kavya Guduru

(Reuters) - Gold scaled a one-month high on Tuesday as recent signs of rising inflation underpinned demand, although the metal gave up some early gains due to a firming U.S. dollar.

Spot gold was last up 0.1% at $1,811.77 per ounce by 12:37 p.m. EDT (1737 GMT), after hitting its highest since Nov. 22 at $1,820. U.S. gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,811.70.

The lack of a rise in bond yields and building inflationary pressures are supportive factors for the gold market, said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

"The ongoing trend (for gold) remains sideways to higher in the near term, and we believe that this trend is coming from the continuation of the inflationary pressures that we see building in the market."

The U.S. dollar gained 0.1% against a basket of peers, reducing gold's appeal for holders of non-U.S. currencies. [USD/]

While gold prices are expected to stay around the current levels early next year, rising U.S. interest rates and falling inflation could hit prices, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, forecasting the metal to end 2022 around $1,650 per ounce.

Bullion's gains were also limited by a rise in U.S. equities, with the S&P 500 opening at a record high as investors remained unshaken by Omicron-driven travel disruptions and store closures. [.N]

"While there are concerns over the Omicron variant, the investment demand (for gold) is quite flat. So, it is just the year-end rally since there is still some risk-on sentiment present," said Jigar Trivedi, a commodities analyst at Mumbai-based broker Anand Rathi Shares.

Silver rose 0.3% to $23.10 per ounce, while platinum climbed 0.9% to $979.54.

Palladium rose 1.9% to $2,007.36, having touched a more than one-month peak of $2,019 earlier in the session.

(Reporting by Kavya Guduru and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad; Editing by Aditya Soni and Uttaresh.V)