PRECIOUS-Gold dips as dollar shines after U.S. Senate clears tax bill

    Dec 4 (Reuters) - Gold prices traded lower early on Monday,
as the dollar gained after Republicans in the U.S. Senate passed
a bill to overhaul the country's tax system, moving the process
forward.
               
    FUNDAMENTALS    
    * Spot gold        was down 0.4 percent at $1,275 an ounce
by 0047 GMT. 
    * U.S. gold futures         were down 0.3 percent at
$1,278.10.
    * The U.S. dollar bounced to a two-week top on Monday as
traders celebrated the passage of a Senate tax bill over the
weekend, while stronger U.S. stock futures pointed to a merry
start for Asian shares.            
    * The U.S. Senate narrowly approved a tax overhaul on
Saturday, moving Republicans and President Donald Trump a big
step closer to their goal of slashing taxes for businesses and
the rich while offering everyday Americans a mixed bag of
changes.             
    * U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on
Sunday it would be "ridiculous" for a fight with Democrats over
immigration issues to result in a standoff over a year-end
spending bill and prompt a shutdown of the federal government.
            
    * A series of tweets by U.S. President Donald Trump about
the investigation into contacts between his 2016 campaign and
Russia prompted concerns on Sunday among both Democratic and
Republican lawmakers, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham
saying Trump could be wading into "peril" by commenting on the
probe.             
    * The Pentagon is scouting the West Coast for places to
deploy new anti-missile defenses, two Congressmen said on
Saturday, as North Korea's missile tests raise concerns about
how the United States would defend itself from an attack.
            
    * A measure of U.S. factory activity fell more than expected
in November as a gauge of employment cooled, but the index
continued to point to strengthening manufacturing conditions.
            
    * Two Federal Reserve policymakers urged caution in raising
interest rates on Friday, saying that the flattening of the
yield curve was a signal that the central bank should proceed
slowly.             
    * SPDR Gold Trust      , the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 1.02 percent to
848.11 tonnes on Friday from 839.55 tonnes on Thursday.
         
    * Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long
positions in COMEX gold and copper contracts in the week to Nov.
28, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed
on Friday.        
    
   
    DATA/EVENT AHEAD (GMT)
    0930   Euro zone       Sentix index               Dec
    1000   Euro zone       Producer prices            Oct
    1445   U.S.            ISM-New York index         Nov
    1500   U.S.            Factory orders             Oct

 (Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Richard
Pullin)