(Corrects milestone in first paragraph to three-week high, from
four-week high)
* Dollar wilts, European stocks sink 1 pct
* Platinum hits fresh 14-month high
* GRAPHIC-2016 asset returns: reut.rs/1WAiOSC
By Marcy Nicholson and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a three-week
high on Tuesday as European and U.S. shares fell and the dollar
hit its lowest in over a month after last week's soft U.S.
growth data dented expectations for a near-term interest rate
hike.
Platinum group metals continued to shine, with platinum
reaching its highest since April 2015 and palladium hitting a
14-month peak.
Spot gold was up 0.9 percent at $1,365.09 an ounce by
2:44 p.m. EDT (1844 GMT), after rising to $1,367.33, the highest
since July 11.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled up 1
percent at $1,372.60.
"People are concerned about interest rates in the U.S. not
being hiked, about equities overheating - those concerns are
getting stronger every day," ING analyst Hamza Khan said.
"There's a lot of upward momentum here."
Gold is highly sensitive to U.S. interest rates, which lift
the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
Equities on Wall Street were weak while European stocks fell
to two-week lows, dragged down by banks, while the euro
rose above $1.12 for the first time in more than a month.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan joined
other Fed policymakers by urging renewed caution in trying to
lift rates again.
"We had that poor U.S. second-quarter GDP number which came
out on Friday, and that seems to have given gold a bit of a
leg-up," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar.
"That basically pushes back the likelihood of the next Fed
rate increase, possibly now into 2017."
Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, SPDR Gold Shares saw its biggest one-day inflow
since late June, on Monday, while inflows of the six silver ETFs
followed by Reuters rose to a record high.
Platinum was up 0.9 percent at $1,167.40 an ounce,
after touching a more than 15-month high of $1,177.40 earlier in
the day.
Whether or not South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers
will go on strike at power utility Eskom on Aug. 8, and
potentially affect platinum supplies, is questionable, said
Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president of Heraeus Metal
Management in New York.
"Many of the mining companies had installed significant
power back-up systems to avoid the disruptions that had been
suffered in the past," he said.
"But now, of course, kicks in the technical readings which
are all pointing to even possible higher prices."
Palladium was up 0.5 percent at $716.35, after
hitting a 13-month high of $722.90 earlier in the session.
Silver was up 1.1 percent at $20.63.
(Additional reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru;
editing by William Hardy and Diane Craft)