Gold nudges higher as investors pin hopes on U.S. stimulus

GOLD - GOLD prices on Friday edged higher on cautious investor optimism over additional U.S. stimulus, while news that drugmaker Pfizer slashed the target for the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine also helped lift the allure of the safe-haven metal.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,841.90 per ounce by 049 GMT, holding near previous session's peak of $1843.80 - highest in more than a week. Bullion has added about 3% so far in the week. * U.S. gold futures were up 0.2% at $1,844.60.

* Pfizer Inc has said in recent weeks that it anticipates producing 50 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year. That is down from an earlier target of 100 million doses.

* With U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations topping 100,000 for the first time, California's governor said stay-at-home orders could be imposed in every region of the state except the San Francisco Bay Area later this week.

* A bipartisan, $908 billion coronavirus aid plan gained momentum in the U.S. Congress on Thursday as conservative lawmakers expressed their support and Senate and House of Representatives leaders huddled.

* Gold tends to benefit from stimulus measures as it raises the prospect of inflation which bullion is used to hedge against.

* Underscoring the economic impact of the pandemic, data on Thursday showed U.S. weekly jobless claims fell last week, but remained extraordinarily high, while U.S. services industry activity slowed to a six-month low in November.

* Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.1% to 1,189.82 tonnes on Thursday from 1,191.28 tonnes on Wednesday.

* Silver was steady at $24.07 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.1% to $1,030.50 and palladium gained 0.5% to $2,313.00.