Gold prices edge up

BENGALURU, Dec 26 (Reuters): Gold prices edged up on Tuesday in low-volume trade to more than three-week highs, helped by a weaker dollar.
Spot gold was up 0.3 per cent at $1,278.06 per ounce at 0252 GMT, after hitting its highest since Dec 1 at $1,279.05. US gold futures rose 0.3 per cent to $1,282.50 an ounce.
The futures market was closed for Christmas on Monday and volumes remained extremely thin on Tuesday.
Anemic US consumption data on Friday helped gold, while the dollar remained under pressure in thin trading in Asia, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
"With North Korea's Constitution Day Holiday on Wednesday, there may also be an element of risk hedging in play for regional markets at the moment," Halley said.
Tension has been rising over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, which it pursues in defiance of years of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with bellicose rhetoric coming from both Pyongyang and the White House.
US growth prospects dimmed on Friday as data showed spending outpaced income in November and the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure - the personal consumption expenditures price index that excludes food and energy - rose by just 0.1 per cent in November.