PRECIOUS-Gold gains safe-haven bid from M.East turmoil

                                
 * Safe-haven concerns support, inflation in focus
                                
 * Coming up: U.S. Consumer Prices Jan; 1330 GMT
                                
 
                                
 (Updates prices)
                                
 By Amanda Cooper
                                
 LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Gold rose for a fourth day in a
row on Thursday in its strongest run since September, helped by
safe-haven demand as unrest spread across the Middle East, while
the dollar remained under mild pressure.
                                
 Investors are closely watching the growing turmoil in the
Middle East and North Africa, especially after police in Bahrain
attacked demonstrators camped out in the capital, killing three,
and riots broke out in Libya. [ID:nLDE71G0FK]
                                
 Gold was set for its strongest weekly performance since the
start of the year as tensions flared, boosting other perceived
safe-haven assets like the Swiss franc <CHF=>, which rose 0.3
percent on the day and U.S. Treasuries <US10YT=RR>.
                                
 Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.4 percent to $1,379.00 an ounce by
1255 GMT, after hitting a one-month high of $1,381.84 in the
previous session.
                                
 U.S. gold futures <GCJ1> also rose 0.2 percent to $1,378.10.
                                
 Also in focus was U.S. inflation data for January, due later
in the day, which is expected to show consumer prices picked up
at a faster pace last month than they did at the same time last
year. <ECONUS>
                                
 "The market is very jittery because you have civil unrest
across the entire Middle East," said VTB Capital analyst Andrey
Kryuchenkov.
                                
 "The momentum is bullish, the uptrend is intact and there
probably is some inflation buying ... but today the key is the
inflation data," he said.
                                
 The government will release its January CPI report at 1330
GMT after its core rate on producer prices saw their biggest
monthly rise since October 2008. [ID:nN16ST1].
                                
 The U.S. government also auctions $9 billion in new 30-year
inflation-linked bonds, which could offer some gauge of investor
expectations for inflation.
                                
 The dollar index <.DXY> was largely unchanged on the day, as
the Swiss franc gained from safe-haven flows, yet the euro
<EUR=> came under pressure from ongoing concern over the
region's finances and debt burden. [FRX/]
                                
 The minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent policy
meeting showed the central bank is more confident in the
economic outlook but still unhappy with the recovery in the job
market. [ID:nN16297279]
                                
 Physical demand from Asia has been muted this week and may
drag on gold as the spot price continues to climb.
                                
 Yet the longer-term outlook remains bullish, according to
the World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends report, released on
Thursday, which expected Indian and Chinese consumption to
remain robust. [ID:nLDE71F0JJ]
                                
 Premiums for gold bars in Hong Kong fell below $2, from more
than $3 an ounce over London prices, after supply tightness
before the Lunar New Year holiday had eased, dealers said.
                                
 In other precious metals, silver <XAG=> rose 0.3 percent to
$30.73 an ounce, while the platinum group metals came under mild
pressure, echoing declines in other industrial metals. [MET/L]
                                
 Spot palladium <XPD=> reversed earlier gains to fall 0.2
percent to $835.97 an ounce, while platinum <XPT=> eased 0.1
percent to $1,825.60.
 (Additional reporting by Rujun Shen in Singapore; Editing by
Alison Birrane)