* Investors eye U.S. PPI data later in the day
* Fed's Powell sees inflation unlikely
* Palladium faces biggest weekly decline in six weeks
(New throughout, adds comments and updates prices)
By Sumita Layek
April 9 (Reuters) - Gold retreated on Friday from a more
than one-month peak hit in the previous session, weighed by a
rebound in the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields, though it was
still on course to register its first weekly gain in three.
Spot gold fell 0.6% to $1,745.99 per ounce at 0914
GMT, having hit its highest since March 1 at $1,758.45 on
Thursday. For the week, prices were up 1% so far.
U.S. gold futures slipped 0.7% to $1,745.20.
"Gold's had a fairly decent week on the back of weaker U.S.
yields and the dollar," but they are slightly up now and that's
weighing on prices, said CMC Markets UK's chief market analyst,
Michael Hewson.
The dollar and benchmark U.S. yields have rebounded
from two-week lows, making gold less appealing.
Data out of China showed factory-gate prices rose at their
fastest annual pace since July 2018 in March, while the producer
price index (PPI) rose 4.4%. U.S. PPI data is due later in the
day.
"If we get a similarly strong number (in U.S. PPI), that
could reawaken the inflation genie and put upward pressure on
U.S. yields, and that in turn will hurt gold," Hewson said.
However, on Thursday Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
reiterated that higher inflation numbers that would require the
Fed to react with rate hikes were unlikely.
"Gold's retreat from last year's peak is a 'mini-correction'
in a longer bull market," said Davis Hall, head of capital
markets in Asia at Indosuez wealth management.
"A lot of that speculative froth has been withdrawn as
bitcoin picked up the baton... (but) as long as real yields
remain flat to negative, gold has that underlying long-term
support."
Silver eased 0.9% to $25.20, while platinum
fell 1.3% to $1,214.21.
Palladium rose 0.1% to $2,626.41, but was on track for
its biggest weekly fall since the week ending Feb. 26.
(Reporting by Sumita Layek in Bengaluru; Additional reporting
by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Pravin Char)
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